Mark Lynas Archives - Nucleation Capital

The Green Party of Finland has voted to add several pro-nuclear points to their party manifesto which include support for existing reactors and SMRs. This is the first green party to openly support nuclear power, marking a potential turning point in how pro-renewable groups view other clean sources of electricity.

The new section is translated as follows:

Ensuring the safety of nuclear power as part of a sustainable energy palette.

Replace the Fennovoima project, which is unsuitable for security policy, by building an equivalent amount of stable, emission-free basic production.
Extension permits will be granted to Finland's existing nuclear reactors if the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority considers it safe to continue operations.
Reform the nuclear energy law and, in particular, streamline the regulation of small nuclear reactors without compromising safety.

On the first point, the “Fennovoima project” refers to a new nuclear plant which was set to begin operation in 2028 but was canceled shortly after construction began. As Fennovoima Ltd, the owner of the plant was established by Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom, the decision was made to cancel the project in response to the conflict in Ukraine.

This shift in the party’s stance was supported by Viite, an internal group within the Green League which promotes political decision-making based on scientific knowledge. Also supportive of this initiative was Fridays for Future Finland, the Finnish section of the international movement started by Greta Thunberg.

Finland generates a third of its energy from nuclear power, and before this shift from the Greens, 147 of the 200 seats in the Finnish Parliament were filled by representatives whose parties supported the usage of nuclear power. With the 20 seats of the Green Party, or “Green League” now joining that group, nuclear power is supported by over 80% of the legislature. In addition, the country has recently reached its highest ever public support of nuclear power, with 74% in favor of its continued usage. These factors combine to make it clear that the development of nuclear power will not be slowing down in Finland any time soon.

Read more at Alliance For Science: Finland’s Green Party endorses nuclear power, published May 23, 2022, by Mark Lynas.

Published by Grant Mills in Advanced Nuclear, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Construction costs, Environmental support for nuclear, Future of Energy, Government support, History Timeline, History-making, International support for nuclear, LINKS, Nuclear-inclusive energy policy, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

Robert Bryce, a highly respected author and now film producer, who recently released the film "Juice: How Electricity Explains the World," attempted to tackle the counter-intuitive phenomena that was being noticed at that time—approximately two years after the devastating disaster at Fukushima—wherein prominent environmentalists who were anti-nuclear before the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant became pro-nuclear after the accident.

Bryce reports on the emergence of what he calls "pronuclear Greens," and the bifurcation that they represented in the environmental movement. These leading environmental thinkers, it turns out, realized that despite how horrific the earthquake-induced tsunami was, and its ability to eliminate power to the nuclear plant for enough time to cause the meltdown of three of the four reactors at the Daiichi plant, that nevertheless, the actual loss of life from that accident was so negligible, it was almost something to celebrate.

Of course, the tsunami swept away some 15,000 souls. In the lead-up to the meltdown, the fear created by the threat of what would happen, caused unbelievable panic, that hundreds of people died from accidents, heart attacks, the failure to give proper medical treatment, and many other causes. Estimates put the number of deaths related to the ordered evaculation at about 1,000. But the number of people who died from the meltdowns themselves as well as from the amount of escaping radiation? Zero.

Yes, there was a catastrophic failure at a nuclear power plant but, the more you learn about it, the more you realize that lives would have been saved had there not been the evacuation order in the first place. That the damage done was limited primarily to the physical plant and none spilled out to the surrounding community. What radiation did escape was relatively minor and impacts from that would have been highly treatable with iodine and routine check-ups. In fact, the fear of nuclear was more dangerous than the meltdown.

Read Robert Bryce's prescient article "Rise of the Nuclear Greens," published at The Breakthrough Institute.

Published by Nucleation Capital in Anti-nuclear campaign, Brilliant thinkers, Climate policy, Environmental support for nuclear, Future of Energy, LINKS, Pro-nuclear campaign, Solving climate, Zero emission energy

Green Party of Finland backs nuclear

Rise of the Nuclear Greens