We have nothing to fear from nuclear energy

In March 2011, there was a massive earthquake off the eastern coast of Japan. It caused a tsunami to engulf the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Ultimately, however, very little radiation actually leaked out from the damaged reactors.

Nevertheless, it was enough to prompt the UK government to declare that nuclear power was apparently too expensive and too dangerous, a move that undermined plans to build a new generation of nuclear plants. UK politicians weren’t alone in responding this way. In Germany, the Fukushima accident led chancellor Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear power altogether – the final three pressurised water reactors in Germany were eventually closed down in 2023.

The Power of Nuclear, by award-winning Dutch journalist Marco Visscher, provides a vital retort to the scaremongering around nuclear. Not too long ago, Visscher was himself a staunch opponent of nuclear power. But after extensive research and investigation, he has since become an active cheerleader. So much so that he has written one of the most compelling accounts around of ‘our mightiest energy source’ – the most significant form of energy generation discovered since the Industrial Revolution.

Visscher shows that fearful knee-jerk reactions to nuclear incidents from national governments are nothing new. They have blighted the progress of the nuclear industry since its inception. Visscher’s aim is to challenge the common misconceptions, misinformation and alarmism that plague sensible debate about the subject. He does this by looking in detail at some of the most troubling moments in nuclear’s history, from the use of the atom bomb to the Three Mile Island accident and the Chernobyl disaster. Through these historical vignettes, he reveals the hidden history of nuclear power and explains how a one-sided, anti-nuclear narrative has tended to dominate.

Indeed, throughout the development of nuclear power, there has been a unique focus on its potential for catastrophe. Protesters talk endlessly of the threat of meltdowns and disasters. Nuclear seems to channel fear in a way few other technologies are able to, and seemingly with good reason. The power unleashed by splitting the atom culminated in an atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 to devastating effect. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 brought the world to the brink of mutually assured destruction. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union seemed to show how dangerous nuclear power plants could be. And now, we fear the proliferation of nuclear weaponry among Islamic states and militias.

Visscher tells a powerful counter-history, debunking much of the scaremongering on the way. In no way does he excuse the brutal bombing of Hiroshima. But he does put it into grim context, noting that conventional weaponry had already devastated so much of Japan that American military strategists were ‘looking for a city that was still standing so they could properly measure the damage’ of the A-bomb. He also reminds us that in the immediate wake of the Second World War, the new nuclear-power industry was seen positively – as ‘the spearhead for the unification of Europe’, with many Western nations seeking to rid themselves of their reliance on fossil fuels.

He also demystifies famous nuclear disasters. He reminds us that up until today, the death toll from the Chernobyl disaster stands at just a few dozen – a figure that pales in comparison with the 4,000 instantaneous deaths at the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, just two years earlier. The 1979 reactor explosion at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania caused even less harm than Chernobyl, resulting in a grand total of zero fatalities.

Fear of nuclear power has caused far more harm than nuclear accidents themselves. The frightening tales of the supposedly destructive force of nuclear have stopped national governments from pursuing the development of an energy source that could benefit us all.

Visscher concludes The Power of Nuclear by taking on the environmental catastrophists who continue to demonise what, after all, is a carbon-neutral energy source. It seems they are more interested in changing our lifestyles – more interested, that is, in forcing us to reduce our energy consumption, and our living standards, than in exploiting climate-friendly energy sources.

But perhaps the debate is shifting. In the past few weeks, Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear power station to be built in Britain in 30 years, has had its reactor installed. It is on track to be operational by 2030. And Sizewell C is scheduled to be up and running by 2035 – although the final decision will have to wait until the Labour government’s 2025 spending review. It certainly seems as if attitudes to nuclear power are changing. Even the UK’s eco-activist energy secretary, Ed Miliband, was moved to state recently: ‘Whatever the challenges of nuclear, they pale in comparison to the energy security and climate threats we face.’

Let’s see if plans to increase our nuclear-energy provision come off. The Power of Nuclear certainly offers some important ammunition for the arguments ahead.

Austin Williams is director of the Future Cities Project. Follow him on X: @Future_Cities.