Nuclear Energy Is Not Clean

The discussion over measures to save our planet from global warming, or the 21^st Conference of Parties of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, looks like going to strange direction. Major twenty countries, including United States, China or Japan, discussed doubling of “clean energy” in next five years. One definition of clean energy includes nuclear power generation. Here’s fundamental question: Is nuclear energy clean energy?

Given a tragic event of terrorism in Paris, where COP21 is held, the participants of the conference appeared to be determined to achieve positive result to demonstrate their ordinary work regardless terrorist threats. New cooperative group by world’s ultra-riches, including Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Amazon bass Jeff Bezos or Alibaba chief Jack Ma, established Breakthrough Energy Coalition, an initiative to increase investment for clean energy research.

It should be a dramatic story, if the political leaders stood up for climate change being pushed their back by world popular business heroes. A group of twenty countries with major economy, calling themselves “Mission Innovation,” agreed on doubling investment on clean energy. Although their purpose was to encourage UNFCCC to reach an agreement on new framework for reducing green house gas emission, the framework of rich countries did not guarantee a settlement of argument between the rich developed countries and the still developing.

It is not hard to imagine that Japan willingly joined the twenty-country framework with expectation of maintaining domestic nuclear power generation, defining clean energy to be including nuclear energy. After major accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, as tragic as terrorism, all nuclear reactors, except a few resumed, are not in operation. Shinzo Abe administration is looking for every opportunity to get back to the road of progress for taking advantage of nuclear power.

But, if world leaders see the situation of Fukushima, can they still embrace bright hope for nuclear energy? About sixty thousand people still in their evacuation from radioactively contaminated hometowns. Medical experts in Fukushima reported growing number of young patients of thyroid cancer, while they have not found direct relationship between the patients and nuclear accident. Nuclear energy is the greatest polluter in the history of Japan, anyway. Before being enthusiastic for making legacy, world leaders need to realize that it is more than obvious that nuclear energy cannot be included in clean energy.