I was fortunate enough to attend former Gov. Tom Ridge's speech at the Nuclear Energy Symposium last weekend. While the Governor's physics grades may not have qualified him as an expert on aspects of nuclear energy, his service as the first Secretary of Homeland Security and as governor of a state with nine operating nuclear power plants certainly does.

Nuclear power does emit less carbon than coal, much less. According to Greenpeace, the total lifecycle emissions for nuclear power (which include mining and waste disposal) is less than 15 percent of the emissions from natural gas and less than 7 percent of the emissions from scrubbed coal-fired plants.

Nuclear waste disposal has a long and successful history in the United States. The present debate on the issue (Yucca Mountain) is far more political than technical. France and Japan currently recycle their fuel, which extends the uranium supply, theoretically indefinitely. This is something to seriously consider as we enter a carbon-constrained future.

While it is true that the civilian nuclear power program had its origins in the Manhattan Project, it has long since broken any ties with the military. The use of nuclear power, especially to displace fossil fuels, could actually promote peace by forestalling resource crises as the developing world strives to improve the lives of its citizens. The latest developments in nuclear power involve the use of thorium, which is far more abundant than other sources of fuel and cannot be converted to military use.

Brenden Heidrich

senior research assistant

Radiation Science and Engineering Center