There are large variations in people's understanding of the issues surrounding nuclear power, including the technology itself,

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, and

energy security Energy security is the association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption. Access to (relatively) cheap energy has become essential to the functioning of modern economies. However, the uneven ...

. Proponents of nuclear energy contend that nuclear power is a

sustainable energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". Most definitions of sustainable energy include considerations of environmental aspects such as green ...

source that reduces

carbon emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and l ...

and increases

by decreasing dependence on imported energy sources. Opponents believe that nuclear power poses many threats to people and the environment. While

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

has historically been opposed by many

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that s ...

organisations, some support it, as do some scientists.

Context

Nuclear energy is a controversial area of

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

. The debate about nuclear power peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, when it "reached an intensity unprecedented in the history of technology controversies", in some countries. Proponents of nuclear energy point to the fact nuclear power produces virtually no conventional air pollution,

greenhouse gases A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), meth ...

, and smog, in contrast to fossil fuel sources of energy. Proponents also argue perceived risks of storing waste are exaggerated, and point to an operational safety record in the Western world which is excellent in comparison to the other major kinds of power plants. Historically, there have been numerous proponents of nuclear energy, including Georges Charpak, Glenn T. Seaborg, Edward Teller,

Alvin M. Weinberg Alvin Martin Weinberg (; April 20, 1915 – October 18, 2006) was an American nuclear physicist who was the administrator at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) during and after the Manhattan Project. He came to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1945 ...

Eugene Wigner Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner ( hu, Wigner Jenő Pál, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his con ...

Ted Taylor Ted Taylor may refer to: *Ted Taylor (physicist) (1925–2004), Theodore Taylor *Ted Taylor (footballer) (1887–1956), Edward Taylor *Ted Taylor (ice hockey) (born 1942) *Ted Taylor (singer) (1934–1987), American R&B and soul singer See also *Te ...

, and Jeff Eerkens. There are also scientists who write favorably about nuclear energy in terms of the broader energy landscape, including

Robert B. Laughlin Robert Betts Laughlin (born November 1, 1950) is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University. Along with Horst L. Störmer of Columbia University and Daniel C. Tsui of Princeton Universit ...

, Michael McElroy, and Vaclav Smil. In particular, Laughlin writes in "Powering the Future" (2011) that expanded use of nuclear power will be nearly inevitable, either because of a political choice to leave fossil fuels in the ground, or because fossil fuels become depleted.

Lobbying and public relations activities

Globally, there are dozens of companies with an interest in the nuclear industry, including

Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Ato ...

, BHP, Cameco, China National Nuclear Corporation, EDF, Iberdrola,

Nuclear Power Corporation of India The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is an Indian public sector undertaking based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is wholly owned by the Government of India and is responsible for the generation of electricity from nuclear power. N ...

Ontario Power Generation Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) is a Crown corporation and "government business enterprise" that is responsible for approximately half of the electricity generation in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is wholly owned by the government ...

Rosatom Rosatom, ( rus, Росатом, p=rɐsˈatəm}) also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom or Rosatom State Corporation, is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that special ...

, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and

Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational power company owned by the Swedish State. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The company's name is Swedish for " waterfall", a ...

. Many of these companies lobby politicians and others about nuclear power expansion, undertake public relation activities, petition government authorities, as well as influence public policy through referendum campaigns and involvement in elections.Jonathan Leake. "The Nuclear Charm Offensive" ''New Statesman'', 23 May 2005.Union of Concerned Scientists
Nuclear Industry Spent Hundreds of Millions of Dollars Over the Last Decade to Sell Public, Congress on New Reactors, New Investigation Finds
News Center, February 1, 2010.
''Business Week'', March 19, 2010. The nuclear industry has "tried a variety of strategies to persuade the public to accept nuclear power", including the publication of numerous "fact sheets" that discuss issues of public concern. Nuclear proponents have worked to boost public support by offering newer, safer, reactor designs. These designs include those that incorporate passive safety and Small Modular Reactors. Since 2000 the nuclear industry has undertaken an international media and

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, whic ...

campaign to promote nuclear power as a solution to the

greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when energy from a planet's host star goes through the planet's atmosphere and heats the planet's surface, but greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevent some of the heat from returning directly ...

and

. Though reactor operation is free of carbon dioxide emissions, other stages of the nuclear fuel chain – from uranium mining, to reactor decommissioning and

radioactive waste management The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, formed by the Energy Act 2004. It evolved from the Coal and Nuclear Liabilities Unit of the Department o ...

– use fossil fuels and hence emit carbon dioxide. The Nuclear Energy Institute has formed various sub-groups to promote nuclear power. These include the Washington-based Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, which was formed in 2006 and led by Patrick Moore.

Christine Todd Whitman Christine Temple Whitman (née Todd; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration ...

, former head of the USEPA has also been involved
Clean Energy America
is another group also sponsored by the NEI. Sharon Beder (2014). Lobbying, greenwash and deliberate confusion: how vested interests undermine climate change. In M. C-T. Huang and R. R-C Huang (Eds.), ''Green Thoughts and Environmental Politics: Green Trends and Environmental Politics'' (pp. 297-328), Taipei, Taiwan: Asia-seok Digital Technology. In Britain, James Lovelock well known for his

Gaia Hypothesis The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps ...

began to support nuclear power in 2004. He is patron of the Supporters of Nuclear Energy. SONE also recognise that there are serious technical challenges associated with an electric grid reliant on intermittent and low density sources of energy. The main nuclear lobby group in Britain is

FORATOM nucleareurope (formerly FORATOM, European Atomic Forum - Forum Atomique Européen), is the Brussels-based trade association for the nuclear energy industry in Europe. Its main purpose is to promote the use of nuclear power in Europe. The current D ...

. As of 2014, the U.S. nuclear industry has begun a new lobbying effort, hiring three former senators — Evan Bayh, a Democrat; Judd Gregg, a Republican; and Spencer Abraham, a Republican — as well as William M. Daley, a former staffer to President Obama. The initiative is called Nuclear Matters, and it has begun a newspaper advertising campaign.

Organizations supporting nuclear power

In March 2017, a bipartisan group of eight senators, including five Republicans and three Democrats introduced S. 512, the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA). The legislation would help to modernize the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), support the advancement of the nation's nuclear industry and develop the regulatory framework to enable the licensing of advanced nuclear reactors, while improving the efficiency of uranium regulation. Letters of support for this legislation wer
provided by thirty-six organizations
including for profit enterprises, non-profit organizations and educational institutions. The most prominent entities from that group and other well-known organizations actively supporting the continued or expanded use of nuclear power as a solution for providing clean, reliable energy include: * The Alvin Weinberg Foundation * American Nuclear Society (ANS) * Battelle Memorial Institute * Breakthrough Institute *

Canadian Nuclear Society The Canadian Nuclear Society (CNS) is a not-for-profit organization representing individuals contributing to, or otherwise supporting, nuclear science and nuclear engineering, engineering in Canada. Since 2017, the group has invested in the develo ...

* Canadian Nuclear Association *

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts poli ...

ClearPath Foundation ClearPath Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Charlotte, NC, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C., that is focused on "conservative clean energy". According to a press release, the organization was founded to propose and su ...

Earth Institute {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...

* Ecomodernists *

Environmentalists for Nuclear Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy (EFN) — in French: "Association des Écologistes Pour le Nucléaire – AEPN, founded in 1996" — is a pro-nuclear power non-profit organization that aims to provide information to the public on energy and ...

* Environmentalists for Nuclear Energy Australia * European Atomic Forum *

International Nuclear Societies Council The International Nuclear Society Council (INSC), founded on 11 November 1990 by the INSG (International group of Nuclear Societies), is a non-governmental organisation made up of Nuclear Societies from all over the world that "acts as a global fo ...

representing thirty-six national nuclear societies from around the world. * Long Now Foundation * The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI is the main lobby group for companies doing nuclear work in the U.S.) * Nuclear Institute (Formerly the British Nuclear Energy Society (BNES) and the Institution of Nuclear Engineers (INucE), representing nuclear professionals in the U.K.) *

Third Way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born f ...

Thorium Energy Alliance Thorium Energy Alliance (TEA) is a non-governmental, non-profit 501(c)3, educational organization based in the United States, which seeks to promote energy security of the world through the use of thorium as a fuel source. The potential for the ...

is an association studying and advocating for advanced reactor designs. * The World Nuclear Association, the global trade body for nuclear energy The United States generates about 19% of its electricity from nuclear power plants. Nearly 60% of all clean energy generated in the U.S. comes from nuclear power. Studies have shown that closing a nuclear power plant results in greatly increased carbon emissions as only burning coal or natural gas can make up for the massive amount of energy lost from a nuclear power plant. Even though there have long been protests against nuclear power, the effect of long-term scrutiny has elevated safety within the industry, making nuclear power the safest form of energy in operation today, despite the fact that many continue to fear it. Nuclear power plants create thousands of jobs, many in health and safety jobs, and seldom experience protests from area residents, as they bring large amounts of economic activity, attract educated employees and leave the air clear safe, unlike oil, coal or gas plants, which bring disease and environmental damage to their workers and neighbors. Nuclear engineers have traditionally worked, directly or indirectly, in the nuclear power industry, in academia or for national laboratories. More recently, young nuclear engineers have started to innovate and launch new companies, becoming entrepreneurs in order to bring their enthusiasm for using the power of the atom to address the climate crisis. As of June 2015,

released a report identifying 48 nuclear start-ups or projects organized to work on nuclear innovations in what is being called "advanced nuclear" designs. Current research in the industry is directed at producing economical,

proliferation Proliferation may refer to: Weapons *Nuclear proliferation, the spread of nuclear weapons, material, and technology *Chemical weapon proliferation, the spread of chemical weapons, material, and technology * Small arms proliferation, the spread of ...

-resistant reactor designs with passive safety features. Although government labs research the same areas as industry, they also study a myriad of other issues such as

nuclear fuel Nuclear fuel is material used in nuclear power stations to produce heat to power turbines. Heat is created when nuclear fuel undergoes nuclear fission. Most nuclear fuels contain heavy fissile actinide elements that are capable of undergoi ...

s and

nuclear fuel cycle The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages. It consists of steps in the ''front end'', which are the preparation of the fuel, steps in the ''service period'' in w ...

s, advanced reactor designs, and

nuclear weapon design Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types: * pure fission weapons, the simplest and least technically ...

and maintenance. A principal pipeline for trained personnel for US reactor facilities is the Navy Nuclear Power Program. The job outlook for nuclear engineering from the year 2012 to the year 2022 is predicted to grow 9% due to many elder nuclear engineers retiring, safety systems needing to be updated in power plants, and the advancements made in nuclear medicine.

Individuals supporting nuclear power

A pragmatic need for secure energy supply is a leading reason for many to support nuclear energy. Many people, including former opponents of nuclear energy, now say that nuclear energy is necessary for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. They recognize that the threat to humanity from climate change is far worse than any risk associated with nuclear energy. Many nuclear energy supporters, but not all, acknowledge that renewable energy is also important to the effort to eliminate emissions. Early environmentalists who publicly voiced support for nuclear power include James Lovelock, originator of the

Gaia hypothesis The Gaia hypothesis (), also known as the Gaia theory, Gaia paradigm, or the Gaia principle, proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps ...

, Patrick Moore, an early member of

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth ...

and former president of Greenpeace Canada, George Monbiot and Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalog. Lovelock goes further to refute claims about the danger of nuclear energy and its waste products. In a January 2008 interview, Moore said that "It wasn't until after I'd left Greenpeace and the climate change issue started coming to the forefront that I started rethinking energy policy in general and realised that I had been incorrect in my analysis of nuclear as being some kind of evil plot." There are increasing numbers of scientists and laymen who are environmentalists with views that depart from the mainstream environmental stance that rejects a role for nuclear power in the climate fight (once labelled "Nuclear

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

," some now consider themselves Ecomodernists). Other academics and professionals, alarmed by the impact of disproportionate media coverage of nuclear accidents have formed a group called Scientists for Accurate Radiation Information (SARI). This was formed after a tsunami in Japan in 2011 caused an accidental release at Fukushima Daiichi and local people were unnecessarily relocated and psychologically stressed by false fears. This effective suffering is known as the ‘nocebo’ effect, and describes a situation where a negative outcome occurs due to a belief that an intervention will cause harm. Others who have spoken publicly on the benefits of nuclear power include:

Scientists

Hans Blix Hans Martin Blix (; born 28 June 1928) is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978–1979) and later became the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. As such, ...

, Director General Emeritus of the IAEA *

Ian Fells Ian Fells is Emeritus Professor of Energy Conversion at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and former chairman of the "New and Renewable Energy Centre" at Blyth, Northumberland, England. Education and career Fells was educated at King Edwa ...

Ben Britton Thomas Benjamin Britton (born 18 April 1985) is a materials scientist and engineer based at The University of British Columbia. He is a specialist in micromechanics, electron microscopy and crystal plasticity. In 2014 he was awarded the Si ...

, deputy director of the Centre for Nuclear Engineering, Imperial College London * Ken Caldeira, Stanford University * Georges Charpak, Polish-born French physicist * Stephen Chu, former U.S. Secretary of Energy, former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission * Kerry Emanuel, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *

Martin Freer Martin Freer is a British Nuclear Physicist, professor, and was previously head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham. He won the 2010 Rutherford Medal and Prize ''for establishing the existence of nuclear configu ...

, Head of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Director of the Birmingham Energy Institute (BEI) * Richard Garwin, American physicist * James Hansen Director of Climate Science, Awareness, and Solutions Program and the Earth Institute, Columbia University * David Keith * James Lovelock *

David J. C. MacKay Professor Sir David John Cameron MacKay (22 April 1967 – 14 April 2016) was a British physicist, mathematician, and academic. He was the Regius Professor of Engineering in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and fro ...

(also an author and former DECC chief scientific advisor; died 2016) * Michael McElroy * Richard Muller, Professor of Physics, UC Berkeley, co-founder, Berkeley Earth * Ernest Moniz, former U.S. Secretary of Energy *

Peter H. Raven Peter Hamilton Raven (born June 13, 1936) is an American botanist and environmentalist, notable as the longtime director, now President Emeritus, of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Early life On June 13, 1936, Raven was born in Shanghai, China ...

, President Emeritus, Missouri Botanical Garden. Winner of the National Medal of Science, 2001 * Carlo Rubbia, Nobel Laureate in Physics * Tom Wigley, Climate scientist at the University of Adelaide

Non-scientists

* Ansel Adams (Photographer, former

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, w ...

director; died 1984) *

John Barrasso John Anthony Barrasso III ( ; born July 21, 1952) is an American physician and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wyoming, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Wyoming Stat ...

(U.S. Senator (R) from

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

) *

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a c ...

(Former Mayor of New York City, co-author with Carl Pope of "

Climate of Hope ''Climate of Hope: How Cities, Businesses, and Citizens can Save the Planet'' is an environmental science book by Carl Pope and Michael Bloomberg. Context The book is divided into six parts with two chapters each as well as a conclusion. The ...

")} *

Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. sen ...

(U.S. Senator (D) from

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

) * Stewart Brand (Writer, speaker, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog) * Carol Browner (Former EPA administrator and ECCP (White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy) director in the Obama administration, author of "Comments on Proposed Radiation Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, Nevada," Leadership Council, Nuclear Matters) *

Robert Bryce Robert Broughton Bryce, , (February 27, 1910 July 30, 1997) was a Canadian civil servant. Biography After graduating with engineering degree from the University of Toronto, Bryce undertook graduate studies in economics at University of Cambr ...

(Writer)} * Shelley Moore Capito (U.S. Senator (R) from

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

) *

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

(Former

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

, peace ambassador)} *

Mike Crapo Michael Dean Crapo ( ; born May 20, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Idaho, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Republican Party, Crapo previously served as the U.S. repres ...

(U.S. Senator (R) from

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

)} * Gwyneth Cravens (Journalist, author of "Power to Save the World") *

Leslie Dewan Leslie Dewan (born November 27, 1984) is an American nuclear engineer. She was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Transatomic Power. Dewan was a member of the board of MITMIT News Offic"MIT Corporation elects new members" Retrieved 20 ...

(Nuclear engineer and entrepreneur) * Martin Ferguson} *

Deb Fischer Debra Lynelle Fischer (; born March 1, 1951) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Nebraska, a seat she has held since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Fischer was the first woman elected to a full te ...

(U.S. Senator (R) from

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

) *

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

(Founder of Microsoft Corporation, philanthropist, investor)} * Chris Goodall (Author) *

Malcolm Grimston Malcolm Charles Grimston (born 1 May 1958) is a British advocate of nuclear power, and is also a scientific author, based at the Centre for Energy Policy and Technology at Imperial College London. He has featured extensively on British television ...

(Author of "The Paralysis in Energy Decision Making," Honorary Research Fellow, Imperial College London)} * Steven F. Hayward (Senior Resident Scholar, Institute of Governmental Studies

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

) * Ben Heard (executive director, Bright New World) * Paul Howes} *

Vincent Ialenti Vincent Ialenti is an American anthropologist who studies the culture of nuclear energy and weapons waste organizations. He is the author of ''Deep Time Reckoning'', an anthropological exploration of how experts assessed the potential impact of ...

(Cultural anthropologist) * Jim Inhofe (U.S. Senator (R) from Oklahoma) * John G. Kemeny} *

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

(former U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Senator (D) from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

) *

Ro Khanna Rohit Khanna (; born September 13, 1976) is an American politician, lawyer, and academic serving as the U.S. representative from California's 17th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated eight-term incumb ...

(U.S. Representative (D) from CA-17) *

Steve Kirsch Steven Todd Kirsch is an American entrepreneur. He has started several companies and was one of two people who independently invented the optical mouse. Kirsch has been both a philanthropic supporter of medical research, and a promoter of misinf ...

(Silicon Valley entrepreneur, CEO Token)} * Bob Latta (U.S. Representative (R) for Ohio's fifth congressional district) * John Lavine (Medill Dean Emeritus

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

)} * Zion Lights (Author, activist, founder of Nuclear For Net Zero) * Bjørn Lomborg (Researcher, author) * Mark Lynas (Journalist, activist, author ''

The God Species ''The God Species: Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans'' (alternatively, ''The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans'' (U.S.) or ''The God Species: How Humans Really Can Save the Planet...'' (paperback)) is a 2011 book by ...

'', ''

Six Degrees Six degrees may refer to: *Six degrees of separation, the theory that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than five intermediaries *Six degrees of freedom, motion in t ...

'') *

Joe Manchin Joseph Manchin III (born August 24, 1947) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from West Virginia, a seat he has held since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Manchin was the 34th governor o ...

(U.S. Senator (D) from

) * Haydon Manning} * John McCain

2008 United States presidential debates The United States presidential debates of 2008 were sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), a bipartisan organization that sponsored four debates that occurred at various locations around the United States in September and Oct ...

Steve McCormick Steve McCormick (born 14 August 1969) is a Scottish footballer, who played for Queen's Park, Stirling Albion, Dundee, Leyton Orient, Greenock Morton, Airdrieonians, East Fife, Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West ...

(Former CEO,

The Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Natu ...

) * Jerry McNerney (U.S. Representative (D) for California's 9th congressional district) *

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India ( IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of th ...

} * George Monbiot (Journalist) *

Hugh Montefiore Hugh William Montefiore (born Hugh William Sebag-Montefiore; 12 May 1920 – 13 May 2005) was an English Anglican bishop and academic, who served as Bishop of Kingston from 1970 to 1978 and Bishop of Birmingham from 1978 to 1987. Early life and ...

(Priest, former Friends of the Earth trustee; died 2005) * Patrick Moore (co-founder of

, and former president of Greenpeace Canada) * Lauri Muranen (executive director, World Energy Council Finland) * Lisa Murkowski (U.S. Senator (R) for Alaska) * Ted Nordhaus (Author, chairman of the Breakthrough Institute) * Fred Pearce (Journalist, author) * Steven Pinker (

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, author of

The Better Angels of Our Nature ''The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined'' is a 2011 book by Steven Pinker, in which the author argues that violence in the world has declined both in the long run and in the short run and suggests explanations as to why thi ...

)} * Richard Rhodes ( Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, author of "Nuclear Renewal" and The Making of the Atomic Bomb) * Jeffrey Sachs (Economist, director of

The Earth Institute {{Infobox organization , name = The Earth Institute , image = Ei blue1.gif , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , type = , tax_id ...

) * Peter Schwartz (Author of "Art of the Long View")} * Michael Shellenberger (Author, co-founder of the Breakthrough Institute, President of Environmental Progress) * Robert Stone (Director; his film Pandora's Promise. Specifically credited are Brand, Cravens, Lynas, Rhodes, and Shellenberger. features pro-nuclear environmentalists) * Nobuo Tanaka (Chairman, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, former executive director,

International Energy Agency The International Energy Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation, established in 1974, that provides policy recommendations, analysis and data on the entire global energy sector, wit ...

) * Frank Thelen (Businessman, investor) *

Stephen Tindale Stephen Tindale (29 March 1963 – 1 July 2017) was a British environmentalist who was the executive director of Greenpeace in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2005. He was director of The Alvin Weinberg Foundation, co-founder of the organisation ''C ...

(Chief Executive of the Alvin Weinberg Foundation and former executive director

UK) * Sheldon Whitehouse (U.S. Senator (D) from

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

) *

Bryony Worthington Bryony Katherine Worthington, Baroness Worthington, (born 19 September 1971), is a British environmental campaigner and life peer in the House of Lords. She has promoted change in attitudes to the environment, and action to tackle climate chang ...

(Environmental campaigner, UK

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster ...

member) *

Tim Yeo Timothy Stephen Kenneth Yeo (born 20 March 1945) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of South Suffolk between the 1983 United Kingdom general election and that ...

(Chair, New Nuclear Watch Europe, former chair Energy and Climate Change Parliamentary Select Committee)} *

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pre ...

(Former

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader ...

)} *

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...

(Current

)} *

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The ...

(Billionaire entrepreneur) ;Open letter signatories The following is a list of people that signed the open letter: * Ken Caldeira * Kerry Emanuel * James Hansen * Tom Wigley * Barry Brook (co-author) *

Corey J. A. Bradshaw The Sir Hubert Wilkins Chair of Climate Change was a special appointment made at the University of Adelaide and funded by the Government of South Australia. It was established with funding for four years, beginning in 2006-07. The Chair’s role ...

(co-author) * Andrew Balmford *

Daniel T. Blumstein Daniel T. Blumstein is an ethologist and conservation biologist. He is professor at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, as well as a professor for the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, at the University of California ...

Scott Carroll Scott Alexander Carroll (born September 24, 1984) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox. Early career Carroll attended Liberty High School in Liberty, Missouri, ...

F. Stuart Chapin III F. Stuart Chapin III (or Terry Chapin) (born February 2, 1944) is a professor of Ecology at the Department of Biology and Wildlife of the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska. He was President of the Ecological Society of America (ESA ...

Richard Hobbs Richard J. Hobbs FAA, is a distinguished professor, ARC Australian Laureate Fellow and ecologist at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a Highly-Cited author who has ...

* Ove Hoegh-Guldberg *

William F. Laurance William F. Laurance (born 12 October 1957), also known as Bill Laurance, is Distinguished Research Professor at James Cook University, Australia and has been elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He has received an Australian ...

* Thomas Lovejoy * Robert May (also a UK House of Lords member) *

Hugh Possingham Hugh Phillip Possingham, FAA (born 21 July 1962), is the former Queensland Chief Scientist and is best known for his work in conservation biology, applied ecology, and basic ecological theory including population ecology. He is also a profes ...

* Richard Shine * Chris D. Thomas

Future prospects

The

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER (initially the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ''iter'' meaning "the way" or "the path" in Latin) is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject aimed at creating energy by replicating, on Ear ...

, located in France, is the world's largest and most advanced experimental

tokamak A tokamak (; russian: токамáк; otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰢𐰴, Toḳamaḳ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being ...

nuclear fusion reactor project. A collaboration between the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

(EU), India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea and the United States, the project aims to make a transition from experimental studies of plasma physics to electricity-producing

fusion power Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices d ...

plants. However, the World Nuclear Association says that nuclear fusion "presents so far insurmountable scientific and engineering challenges". Construction of the ITER facility began in 2007, but the project has run into many delays and budget overruns. The facility is now not expected to begin operations until the year 2027 – 11 years after initially anticipated. Another nuclear power program is the Energy Impact Center's

OPEN100 OPEN100 is a project that publishes open-source blueprints to build nuclear power plants. Its stated goal is to reduce the cost and duration of nuclear reactor construction and increase the nuclear power supply 100-fold by 2040 to aid in the decar ...

project. OPEN100 was launched in 2020 and has published open-source blueprints for a nuclear power plant with a 100-megawatt

pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) is ...

. The project aims to minimize the costs and duration of construction to increase nuclear power supply and potentially reverse the effects of climate change.

References

External links

Banks contributing to nuclear power

Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues — Annotated Bibliography on Nuclear Power

Briefing Papers from the Australian EnergyScience Coalition

British Energy — Understanding Nuclear Energy / Nuclear Power
{{DEFAULTSORT:pro-nuclear movement Ecomodernism Environmental movements Lists of people by ideology Nuclear history Nuclear organizations People associated with nuclear power

Context

Lobbying and public relations activities

Organizations supporting nuclear power

Individuals supporting nuclear power

Scientists

Non-scientists

Future prospects

See also

References

Further reading

External links