Author and Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes spoke at Hamilton College on March 3 as part of The Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center lecture series, "The Environment: Public Policy and Social Responsibility." His lecture, "The Need for Nuclear Power," sparked much excitement and controversy in the Hamilton College Chapel.
Rhodes, the author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb and other works on the history of technology, began by claiming, "energy sustains life" and that human development actually depends on energy. By combining a slide show with his presentation, he was able to project charts, graphs and pictures to convince the audience of the benefits of nuclear energy. Projecting "the economic law of life," which claims that the more developed a nation is and the more electricity it uses, the longer the life expectancy is (until a plateau around 70 years of age.) Rhodes claimed that electricity and progress had a fundamental relationship. He also said that underdeveloped nations could move toward economic equity and the reduction of structural violence if they generated and used more energy.
Rhodes then displayed a chart that conveyed the world energy share. He discussed how, historically, substitutions have been made for one energy source for another, citing the substitution of wood for coal to produce energy. Rhodes then displayed his World Primary Substitution Chart, which showed the primary energy consumption versus the competition and use of various energy sources and the projected consumption of energy in the future.
Arguing that nuclear power has great potential, Rhodes then discussed the benefits of nuclear power and the risks of using of fossil, nuclear and renewable systems. Nuclear power is not "pristine," he admitted. However, Rhodes argued that wind and solar energy are not really emission free, either; as wind and solar energy require materials that are made by coal, their use indirectly causes more environmental pollution, as coal produces more pollutants then nuclear power.
Rhodes also argued that wind energy was unreliable and expensive. He said that Denmark, although used as a success story for wind-energy advocates, relies on France for their back up energy. France, Rhodes noted, used reliable nuclear energy to produce 30% of the entire nation's energy.
Citing arguments against coal, gas, and other fossil fuels, he urged the audience to consider the environmental advantages of nuclear power. Citing a "spectacular difference in volume" of the waste nuclear energy produces, Rhodes also argued that nuclear power, as it produces less waste, also produces less radioactive waste then used coal (which contains radioactive material.) The "high level waste can be (an is) sequestered" he claimed.
Rhodes concluded his lecture arguing that nuclear waste was less risky and more environmentally friendly then other energy sources; it was also reliable, practical, and affordable. Nuclear proliferation is driven by politics, he claimed, and not technology. Nuclear energy, according to Rhodes, "is not the problem; it is one of the best solutions."
The lecture was co-sponsored by the Arthur Levitt Public Affairs Center and the Office of the President.
-- by Emily Lemanczyk '05
