The Center for Environmental Health is a progressive organization which advocates for stronger environmental and business regulations in the United States.

Opposition to Nuclear Energy

The Center for Environmental Health was a cosigner on an April 2021 letter to President Joe Biden asking the administration to promote weather dependent wind and solar power systems and “end the fossil fuel era.” The letter also advised the president to “Phase out nuclear energy as an inherently dirty, dangerous and costly energy source.” ¹

Nuclear power plants produce no carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions, and from 1990 until 2021 accounted for 20 percent of American electricity production—the largest source of zero carbon electricity in the United States. ² An October 2018 proposal from The Nature Conservancy noted that zero-carbon nuclear plants produced 7.8 percent of total world energy output and recommended reducing carbon emissions by increasing nuclear capacity to 33 percent of total world energy output. ³ A 2020 analysis from Our World in Data reported that nuclear energy “results in 99.9% fewer deaths than brown coal; 99.8% fewer than coal; 99.7% fewer than oil; and 97.6% fewer than gas,” making it “just as safe” as wind and solar power production. ⁴ The U.S. Department of Energy has concluded that “nuclear energy produces more electricity on less land than any other clean-air source” and that it would require “more than 3 million solar panels to produce the same amount of power as a typical commercial reactor or more than 430 wind turbines.” ⁵

1. Center for Biological Diversity, et. al. Letter to “The Honorable President Joseph R. Biden.” RE: NOW IS THE MOMENT TO ACCELERATE THE JUST, RENEWABLE ENERGY FUTURE AND END THE FOSSIL FUEL ERA. April 27, 2021. Accessed July 23, 2024. https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/energy-justice/pdfs/2022-4-27_Letter-to-Pres-Biden-re-End-Fossil-Fuel-Era-Accelerate-Transtion-to-Renewable-Energy.pdf
2. “Nuclear explained.” U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/us-nuclear-industry.php
3. “The Science of Sustainability.” The Nature Conservancy. October 13, 2018. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/the-science-of-sustainability/
4. Ritchie, Hannah. “What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?” Our World in Data. February 10, 2020. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy  
5. “3 Reasons Why Nuclear is Clean and Sustainable.” U.S. Department of Energy. March 31, 2021. Accessed July 19, 2024. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable