Atomexpo-2019, part 3: Mothers for an atom
I held this material until the end of the series “Chernobyl” . A well-made movie about a truly terrible disaster can cause people to fear atomic energy. But how justified is he? At Atomexpo-2019 I was greatly surprised by the overall environmental focus. And the big surprise was to find environmental activists who were not just for atomic energy, but also, more unusual, against renewable (solar, wind).
Speech by Michael Schellenberger at Atomexpo-2019
Meet Michael Schellenberger, ( Michael Shellenberger ), a writer, environmental activist, winner of the 2008 Environmental Heroes Award of Time magazine, winner of the Green Book Award 2008, and founder of Environmental Progress .
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In the 90s, after graduating from college, Michael became a volunteer in Latin America. And observing the lives of people who do not want to stay in the village and devote their lives to chopping wood has led him to become interested in energy issues. Initially, Michael began to support renewable energy sources - solar panels and wind turbines. And in the 2005 region, he was surprised to learn that major solar enthusiast, Stewart Brand, called for a reconsideration of understanding of nuclear energy. It turned out that nuclear power plants produce four times less CO 2 emissions than solar panels (source IPCC 2014 Annex III Table A III.2 ). The sun and the wind are not constant, which leads to incidents when, for example, Germany in 2016 increased the number of solar panels by 4% and wind turbines by 11%, but received less from them by 3% and 2% of electricity. Worse, with the increase in the number of wind turbines and solar panels, their use drops ( source ).
It was not surprising for an ecologist to experience negative emotions in relation to atomic energy after the Chernobyl disaster, but the deeper Michael burrowed into the topic, the more unexpected facts he discovered. A large study by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) on Chernobyl showed that, in addition to the 28 who died directly from acute radiation sickness, 15 died from thyroid cancer and another ~ 160 people who would die from it in the future, proven deaths from this disaster no longer detected. After the Fukushima accident, more people were hurt by panic and unnecessarily hasty evacuation than by radiation.
At the same time, atomic energy saved 1.8 million lives by preventing the burning of fossil fuels ( source ) - the ashes from coal stations cause lung diseases and contain radionuclides. And wind turbines are now killing more people per kilowatt-hour than nuclear power plants ( mainly people fall and break up during maintenance, but there are also very dramatic stories ).
As a result, Michael became a proatomic environmental activist. “At Atomexpo 2019” he made a presentation “Why do people need atomic energy”. It was an excellent presentation combining statistics, concrete facts, logical and emotional moments. It is a pity that the broadcast / recording was not carried out, I, as a person himself giving lectures, could only admire the quality of Michael’s work. But I managed to find an earlier and shorter version .
And that is not all. The “headshot” of the event was a speech by Iida Ruishalme from the Mothers for Nuclear organization. It is clear and obvious that the mothers desire to protect and ensure a better future for their children, and when mothers are not afraid of nuclear power plants, but, on the contrary, arrange actions to support them, this is very impressive.
This photo is from the Nuclear Pride Fest, which took place on April 28 in Brussels.
And, as a beautiful completion of my report on Atomexpo-2019, I bring to your attention the first film of the Wild Edens series, created with the support of Rosatom. It will be shown on the National Geograpgic Channel.
I express my gratitude for the invitation to the press service of Rosatom and personally to Oleg Kondranenkov.
Speech by Michael Schellenberger at Atomexpo-2019
Meet Michael Schellenberger, ( Michael Shellenberger ), a writer, environmental activist, winner of the 2008 Environmental Heroes Award of Time magazine, winner of the Green Book Award 2008, and founder of Environmental Progress .
')
In the 90s, after graduating from college, Michael became a volunteer in Latin America. And observing the lives of people who do not want to stay in the village and devote their lives to chopping wood has led him to become interested in energy issues. Initially, Michael began to support renewable energy sources - solar panels and wind turbines. And in the 2005 region, he was surprised to learn that major solar enthusiast, Stewart Brand, called for a reconsideration of understanding of nuclear energy. It turned out that nuclear power plants produce four times less CO 2 emissions than solar panels (source IPCC 2014 Annex III Table A III.2 ). The sun and the wind are not constant, which leads to incidents when, for example, Germany in 2016 increased the number of solar panels by 4% and wind turbines by 11%, but received less from them by 3% and 2% of electricity. Worse, with the increase in the number of wind turbines and solar panels, their use drops ( source ).
It was not surprising for an ecologist to experience negative emotions in relation to atomic energy after the Chernobyl disaster, but the deeper Michael burrowed into the topic, the more unexpected facts he discovered. A large study by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) on Chernobyl showed that, in addition to the 28 who died directly from acute radiation sickness, 15 died from thyroid cancer and another ~ 160 people who would die from it in the future, proven deaths from this disaster no longer detected. After the Fukushima accident, more people were hurt by panic and unnecessarily hasty evacuation than by radiation.
At the same time, atomic energy saved 1.8 million lives by preventing the burning of fossil fuels ( source ) - the ashes from coal stations cause lung diseases and contain radionuclides. And wind turbines are now killing more people per kilowatt-hour than nuclear power plants ( mainly people fall and break up during maintenance, but there are also very dramatic stories ).
As a result, Michael became a proatomic environmental activist. “At Atomexpo 2019” he made a presentation “Why do people need atomic energy”. It was an excellent presentation combining statistics, concrete facts, logical and emotional moments. It is a pity that the broadcast / recording was not carried out, I, as a person himself giving lectures, could only admire the quality of Michael’s work. But I managed to find an earlier and shorter version .
And that is not all. The “headshot” of the event was a speech by Iida Ruishalme from the Mothers for Nuclear organization. It is clear and obvious that the mothers desire to protect and ensure a better future for their children, and when mothers are not afraid of nuclear power plants, but, on the contrary, arrange actions to support them, this is very impressive.
This photo is from the Nuclear Pride Fest, which took place on April 28 in Brussels.
And, as a beautiful completion of my report on Atomexpo-2019, I bring to your attention the first film of the Wild Edens series, created with the support of Rosatom. It will be shown on the National Geograpgic Channel.
I express my gratitude for the invitation to the press service of Rosatom and personally to Oleg Kondranenkov.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/455449/
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