Nuclear Energy: A Key Part to Fighting the Climate Crisis and a Potential Point of Unity

Moderate West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who is the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a key Democratic vote given the 50-50 partisan split in the Senate. Photo by Ralph Alswang.

It has now been months since what was easily the most divisive election in modern American history, but the sharp partisan divides that underpinned the election remain. However, the issues the United States faces transcend partisanship. With existential challenges like climate change looming over our heads, politicians have no choice but to seek common ground and legislate, especially with a razor-thin 50-50 partisan balance in the Senate. The efficiency, environmental friendliness, viability for energy independence, and bipartisan support of nuclear power provide the perfect opportunity for an effective, bipartisan move towards a green America.

With each year, the climate crisis grows more urgent. There is consensus in the scientific community that the “tipping point,” or point of no return from irreversible ecological damage, could occur at the earliest between 1ºC and 2ºC of warming past pre-industrial temperatures. Despite the Paris Agreement goal to stay below 2ºC, we are currently on track to get to 3ºC of warming. The human impact of this would be catastrophic, and marginalized communities globally will bear the brunt of it.

Statistics like this can make the fight against climate change feel like a lost cause. Luckily, nuclear energy mitigates these harms better than any other form of renewable energy and balances different interests. Instead of carbon-emitting fossil fuel, nuclear power comes from uranium fission reactions that produce clean, carbon-neutral energy. Nuclear power is significantly more reliable than other forms of renewable energy; it operates at full capacity 93% of the time, as opposed to 35% of the time like wind and 25% of the time like solar. As a result, it makes up 55% of America’s current clean energy usage and helps to power 28 states. In 2019, the amount of carbon emissions that nuclear energy caused the US to avoid was equivalent to the impact of removing 110 million gas-powered cars. Expanding nuclear energy will be vital to increasing our share of clean energy sources because it has the capacity to meet the needs of our population that wind and solar currently lack.

In addition to being a crucial part of America’s clean energy, nuclear power is good for the US economy. The nuclear energy industry employs 100,000 people currently; when factoring in secondary jobs, this number increases to 475,000. Residents who use nuclear power save an average of 6% on their electricity bills, and the US’ existing nuclear power plants add $60 billion to the annual US GDP. Nuclear power plants are also safe to operate, with US nuclear power plants found to be 100 times safer than what regulatory safety benchmarks mandate.

In spite of all of these facts about the viability, efficacy, and safety of nuclear energy, public opinion has only recently become widely receptive to nuclear power as its role in powering America and awareness of its safety increases. In the past, nuclear power had a reputation of being unsafe and unpopular, stemming from how people reacted to accidents in the late 20th century like Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island. However, this perception is rapidly changing. As of 2016, Gallup polling on nuclear energy said that 56% of respondents felt that the majority of their community would oppose nuclear energy. But this perception gap shifted in the opposite direction by 2019, with 53% saying that they felt that the majority of their community would support nuclear energy. As a whole, 60% of the population favors nuclear energy and 71% believe that it will be vital to meeting US energy needs. Studies show that continuing to inform the public about the benefits of nuclear energy increases people’s receptiveness to it. In the past, the unfamiliarity of nuclear energy and the higher safety risk of less mature reactors created a stigma against it, which resulted in more community backlash to the development of plants. 

There has been a failure to reach a consensus on climate change and environmental legislation for years now in Washington, but nuclear power can help to change that. In 2019, the Progressive Democrats, backed by youth activist groups like the Sunrise Movement, have struggled to get past introduction on the House floor for the Green New Deal, which noticeably excludes both carbon dividends and nuclear energy. The backers of the bill rightly acknowledge the magnitude of the problem and the upheaval in infrastructure the US will need to fight it. But the clock is ticking, and ideological purity cannot come before utilizing vital tools like nuclear energy in our fight against climate change, especially when the votes are not there. Aside from the empirical evidence supporting making nuclear power a cornerstone of American energy, it has a key advantage over plans offered by nuclear opponents on both sides of the aisle: bipartisan support. In August 2020, the Democratic Party included nuclear energy in its platform for the first time since 1972. This marks a significant turning point, as the 2019 partisan divide amongst constituents on nuclear energy was 65% of Republicans and 42% of Democrats supporting nuclear energy. Getting the party that currently controls the White House and both chambers of Congress on board is a huge step in the right direction. Even conservative Democratic senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, Joe Manchin, has come out in favor of nuclear energy. Manchin has traditionally been a strong supporter of fossil fuels and has opposed other climate measures like cap and trade because of the importance of coal to his constituents’ local economy.

In the GOP camp, both old and new congresspeople are making efforts to break the stigma of being the party of climate deniers and anti-environmentalists. Freshman representative Peter Meijer of Michigan’s 3rd district and member of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus says, “Our energy independence is going to require not only a shift to renewables, but also maintaining some on demand energy production. Whether that’s natural gas or nuclear, it has to be part of the mix.” Within the last few weeks, prominent Republican senator and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his openness to making carbon dividends a “pillar” to the GOP climate strategy, and using money collected from these dividends to support the development of more nuclear power reactors. The GOP base is overwhelmingly supportive of nuclear energy as it is. With greater geopolitical energy concerns like the desire to achieve energy independence, nuclear power is a method of combating climate change that can serve broader GOP interests like free market-based solutions and ridding our energy supply from foreign interference.

Democrats and Republicans will continue to disagree on many issues, and the tensions that arose under the Trump era will not vanish overnight. But in the age of polarization, nuclear energy is a chance for the bipartisanship needed to effectively fight climate change and create economic opportunity while at it. Climate change will only continue to become a more serious threat, and in order to act for their constituents, both parties will be forced to make concessions with one another if they are to pass legislation that can meet the challenges of the times. Nuclear energy is one area where the evidence indicates bipartisan support, providing the perfect opportunity to break from partisanship on an issue that was once much more heavily divisive. 

Olivia Hussey is a Junior at Columbia College studying political science and dance. When she is not outdoors enjoying nature, she can be found in the dance studio or at Butler library drinking too much iced coffee.