Jules reviewed Nuclear 2. 0 by Mark Lynas
Review of 'Nuclear 2. 0' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
While this book is a thought provoking and compelling argument for the use of nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions, I feel that the author damages his case somewhat by minimising the risks of past nuclear accidents. Particularly with the recent revelations about leaks from the Fukushima plant I feel this damages the book's credibility. The argument is surely not that nuclear power is risk free, but that it causes significantly less environmental damage than burning fossil fuel does and therefore poses considerably less risk to human health in the long run. While media scaremongering has undoubtedly overstated the dangers, to say that a lower percentage of cancers than expected proved fatal does come across as rather dismissive of the suffering caused by the cancers themselves.
I would also have appreciated more discussion of the safety of new generation nuclear - while I have no doubt that we could build …
While this book is a thought provoking and compelling argument for the use of nuclear power to reduce carbon emissions, I feel that the author damages his case somewhat by minimising the risks of past nuclear accidents. Particularly with the recent revelations about leaks from the Fukushima plant I feel this damages the book's credibility. The argument is surely not that nuclear power is risk free, but that it causes significantly less environmental damage than burning fossil fuel does and therefore poses considerably less risk to human health in the long run. While media scaremongering has undoubtedly overstated the dangers, to say that a lower percentage of cancers than expected proved fatal does come across as rather dismissive of the suffering caused by the cancers themselves.
I would also have appreciated more discussion of the safety of new generation nuclear - while I have no doubt that we could build safer power stations, I am not sure whether regulation and oversight is sufficient to ensure that we do.
Overall though, an important contribution to the debate.