Yes, nuclear plants have carbon footprint

Yes, nuclear plants have carbon footprint

http://www.desmoinesregister.com, February 19, 2010

Misinformation, if repeated often enough, has the effect of lulling the public into acceptance. One particularly disturbing bit of misinformation repeated in the Feb. 4 essay is that nuclear power is environmentally friendly because nuclear power plants don't emit greenhouse gases.

At best, this is a half-truth designed to enlist support for nuclear power from those interested in curbing greenhouse-gas emissions.

While a nuclear power plant, by itself, produces little, if any, carbon dioxide, the plant is an integral part of a massive and complex infrastructure known as the nuclear fuel cycle that is designed to produce electricity.

Energy from burning fossil fuels, thus releasing CO2, is needed throughout the cycle to mine, mill and enrich uranium, fabricate fuel elements and manufacture cement and steel for plant construction. Disposition of nuclear wastes and plant decommissioning are additional parts of the cycle that involve fossil fuel energy.

By concealing the interconnections, energetics and emissions in the fuel cycle, one is led to believe that the power plant is an independent structure churning out electricity without consequence.

This is just another case of there's no such thing as a free lunch. There are much better ways to boil water.

- Dennis C. O'Brien, Windsor Heights; emeritus professor of geology, Drake University