The Nuclear Option

Aug 10, 2023

The Nuclear Option

“Climate change is the existential threat!” warns Bernie Sanders and others. But if he really believed that, he should support nuclear — the only technology that has a track record of rapidly replacing fossil fuels.

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50 years ago, the fastest decarbonization ever happened when France successfully switched to nuclear power.

But environmentalists in the U.S. rarely support nuclear. Some even protest against it.

“I live in terror of the next accident,” Harvey Wasserman, who runs the group Solartopia, tells me. “It’s a virtual inevitability that we’re going to have another disaster.”

But NO ONE died from the one serious nuclear accident in the US, 3 Mile Island.

Fukushima was overblown, too.

Chernobyl was terrible, but that was a bad plant sloppily constructed to please Soviet dictators. No nuclear facility like that will be built again.

Nuclear is better than the alternatives.

You can watch our debate in the video above.

Content

0.16 -> do you worry about the climate the world

2.32 -> is going to end in 12 years if we don't

4 -> address climate change

5.2 -> climate change is the existential threat

8.639 -> i don't think it's existential but

10.719 -> climate change may become a real

12.719 -> problem so it's odd that the activists

15.44 -> rarely mention

16.48 -> nuclear power today around 75 percent of

19.92 -> france's power

20.96 -> comes from nuclear energy and much of

23.439 -> sweden's too

24.8 -> nuclear energy cut their carbon

26.64 -> emissions but now

28.24 -> frightened activists want nothing to do

30.16 -> with it we're calling

31.679 -> for shut down the future of earth

35.12 -> is not going to be brought to us by

36.399 -> nuclear power at grand central station

38.96 -> these protesters

40.079 -> imitated a nuclear meltdown

46.399 -> absurdly nuclear power came to a near

48.96 -> halt in america

50.079 -> 40 years ago because of a partial

52.239 -> meltdown at three mile island

53.92 -> pennsylvania

54.879 -> the united states worst commercial

57.039 -> nuclear power

58 -> accident that worst accident killed no

60.719 -> one

61.28 -> it would have been largely forgotten

62.96 -> except that by coincidence

64.64 -> days before hollywood released a movie

67.439 -> that suggested

68.4 -> an accident could burn a hole all the

70.479 -> way to china

72 -> today only a handful of people know what

75.28 -> it really means

78.56 -> and they're scared people saw that and

81.439 -> freaked out

82.32 -> environmentalist josh goldstein says

84.4 -> nuclear power can save us

86 -> from climate change and we'd have more

88.24 -> nuclear power

89.119 -> were it not for that movie and the media

91.52 -> hysteria that followed

93.28 -> the first step in a nuclear nightmare it

95.84 -> led to the no

96.88 -> nukes concert in 1979 in new york

101.84 -> i live in terror of the next accident

105.36 -> activist harvey wasserman turned

107.2 -> anti-nuclear after three mile island

109.6 -> it's a virtual inevitability that we're

112.24 -> going to have another disaster

114 -> his argument has basically won the

116.64 -> nuclear industry

117.92 -> is being dismantled what was so terrible

120.799 -> about three mile island

122.56 -> no one died i'm one of two journalists

125.92 -> who went into central pennsylvania after

128.8 -> the accident three mile island

130.64 -> interviewing people they're showing me

132.319 -> their tumors their hair loss

134.56 -> their lesions but it's bunk it's been

137.44 -> studied

138.16 -> people didn't die people lose hair and

140.8 -> have

141.28 -> get cancer and they attribute it to

143.44 -> three mile island

144.72 -> but it's not true having been there

147.36 -> since

148.08 -> my clear assertion that people were

150.72 -> killed at three mile island

152.319 -> actual scientists couldn't find a threat

154.48 -> to health

155.36 -> three mile island was here where there's

157.84 -> less cancer than in most of the state

160 -> nobody was harmed at three mile island

163.04 -> but what about the fukushima disaster

165.44 -> the tsunami was real

168.879 -> and we were told there were dangerous

170.879 -> radiation leaks

172.239 -> there was heightened radiation but it

174.319 -> was all at this low level

175.76 -> below what we consider to be safe the

177.76 -> radiation never amounted

179.84 -> to dangerous to beyond normal approved

182.64 -> levels

183.28 -> that's right what harmed people was when

185.599 -> everyone freaked out and ordered a

187.519 -> massive sudden evacuation ripped people

190.319 -> out of hospital rooms

191.68 -> people panicked and that caused suicide

194.56 -> depression

195.599 -> all kinds of terrible effects the fear

198.08 -> of radioactivity

199.76 -> really did kill people there has been a

201.68 -> nuclear accident in the soviet union

205.92 -> one accident did kill people chernobyl

208.799 -> it happened in the old socialist

210.56 -> soviet union where those who built the

212.879 -> plant cut corners to please the

214.799 -> dictators

216 -> investigations revealed both procedural

218.56 -> and design errors

220 -> no chernobyl-like plant will be built

222 -> again but even including chernobyl's

224.64 -> deaths

225.44 -> nuclear power is much safer than coal

228.4 -> oil

228.879 -> natural gas almost as safe as wind and

232.159 -> solar

232.879 -> facts are on your side how are you

235.36 -> losing this battle

236.64 -> there's been a campaign of

238.799 -> fear-mongering around

240.159 -> radioactivity and radiation and nuclear

242.319 -> power for

243.28 -> decades now nuclear waste we're told the

246.08 -> waste from nuclear plants will kill us

248.64 -> a serious health hazard what about the

250.64 -> waste that's concentrated

252.72 -> and it lives just about forever if you

255.519 -> took

255.84 -> all the nuclear waste all the spent fuel

257.919 -> from all america's reactors

259.919 -> for 60 years it would fit into a walmart

262.88 -> it's literally a small

264.24 -> problem we kill many many more people by

266.96 -> using a lot of fossil fuels

268.72 -> many environmentalists say nuclear power

271.52 -> is the only solution to climate change

274.16 -> you do not cool the planet with a

277.199 -> radioactive fire

279.919 -> that burns at 570 degrees fahrenheit

283.44 -> the speediest drop in greenhouse gas

285.759 -> pollution on record occurred in france

288.479 -> when that country transitioned to

290.4 -> nuclear i guarantee you

292.639 -> france will not be building any more

295.28 -> nuclear power

296.08 -> plants yes the anti-nuclear movements

298.639 -> stop nuclear and europe too

300.72 -> but other places in the world are

302.4 -> building them like crazy china is

304.24 -> putting a nuclear reactor on the grid

306.16 -> every two to three months

307.52 -> and america may soon finish one

310.88 -> 15 years after approval was sought still

313.84 -> isn't operating

315.039 -> it took six years just to get permission

317.28 -> to build

318.479 -> it didn't always take so long blue dots

321.199 -> on this graph show construction time

323.28 -> before a three-mile island and in red

325.919 -> what

326.32 -> happened to plants being built after

328.96 -> because america more than

330.32 -> doubled construction time and cost by

333.199 -> increasing regulations

334.96 -> takes 12 years to build the plant

336.72 -> because there are so many regulations

339.12 -> you want more

340.32 -> uh yes actually i do we can have clean

343.44 -> power from nuclear plants

345.28 -> if silly people like you weren't scaring

347.84 -> people

348.56 -> about the wrong things if you want to

350.639 -> accuse us of having

352.4 -> raised the cost of building new nuclear

355.36 -> plants

355.919 -> by demanding more regulation i plead

358.8 -> guilty

359.6 -> activists like him say countries can

361.759 -> power themselves with rooftop

363.759 -> solar panels and wind improving

366.8 -> technology has lowered their prices so

369.12 -> they're now as cheap as nuclear

371.199 -> but there's a problem what do we do when

373.52 -> the wind doesn't blow

374.96 -> or the sun doesn't shine well usually

378.08 -> it's one or the other when it isn't he

380.8 -> says

381.44 -> store energy and batteries we are having

384.24 -> a

384.639 -> major technological and industrial

387.84 -> revolution

389.039 -> in battery capacity batteries are

391.44 -> environmentally

392.72 -> nasty they can be and they need that

395.28 -> needs to be dealt with

396.4 -> the idea that a miracle battery is going

398.16 -> to come along and save us

400 -> it's completely untested nuclear energy

402.56 -> has been tested

403.68 -> it could reduce greenhouse gases and

406.08 -> keep energy cheap

407.68 -> if only we didn't fear it so much the

410.56 -> whole regulatory system is crazy because

412.88 -> we're regulating

413.919 -> this energy source as though it were the

416 -> most dangerous thing out there and it's

417.84 -> actually the safest thing

419.12 -> it is it's been pretty safe for 70 years

422.4 -> when we first entered the new world

425.44 -> of the atomic age

427.37 -> [Music]

431.12 -> if you like this video please subscribe

433.44 -> and if you've already subscribed be sure

435.52 -> to hit the

436.319 -> notification button that way you'll be

438.96 -> sure to see the next one

459.039 -> you

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7VCea8LIec