Nuclear Energy is NOT a Climate Solution.

HERE ARE THE FACTS:

■ Fact #1: Nuclear energy has a large carbon footprint.

• Uranium mining, milling, plant construction, fuel enrichment, and waste storage are energy intensive.
• Decommissioning is a carbon-intensive process as equipment and buildings are dismantled and transported to disposal sites over a period of 60 years or longer.

■ Fact #2: Nuclear energy is not clean. It is toxic and dangerous.

• Radiation is routinely released into the air and water as part of operations.
• Accidents happen: Three Mile Island. Chernobyl. Fukushima.
• There is no safe, just, permanent solution for the isolation of over 80,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste for the million years that it will remain lethal.
• Nuclear facilities are vulnerable targets of terrorism.
• Fact #3: Nuclear energy is not reliable in a climate Nuclear facilities are vulnerable targets of terrorism. disrupted world; its demands on water are not compatible with a warming planet.

■ Fact #3: Nuclear energy is not reliable in a climate Nuclear facilities are vulnerable targets of terrorism. disrupted world; its demands on water are not compatible with a warming planet.

• Under global warming conditions, water is fast becoming a precious commodity.
• Reactors consume billions of gallons of water daily and return heated water which undermines our waterways and destroys aquatic life.
• During droughts and heatwaves, the warmer water requires nuclear plants to power down or even shut down altogether.
• Water levels are rising. Many of the nuclear plants located along waterways will eventually become submerged, making the plants inoperable and the stored radioactive waste even more vulnerable.

■ Fact #4: Nuclear energy is too expensive.

• Nuclear energy is at least three times as expensive to produce as solar or wind, and the price of renewables continues to drop while the cost for nuclear continues to rise.
• The nuclear industry is able to survive only because of huge tax-payer subsidies.

■ Fact #5: Nuclear energy impedes the development of renewable energy sources.

• An efficient, responsive, and flexible grid is required to respond to energy demands.
• Nuclear cannot adapt to changing demands.
• The nuclear industry draws needed resources away from renewable energy expansion.

■ Fact #6: Given the climate crisis, we can’t wait.

• We need to move rapidly to an efficient, low-cost, sustainable energy system.
• Nuclear projects take 10 to 20 years to complete. Solar and wind projects take just 2 to 5 years to come online.