How green is nuclear energy?

Neil
With winter here, the rising price of oil and natural gas has become a hot topic.

Sam
At the same time, climate change is also reaching emergency levels, and world leaders are looking for ways to
reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. Some think the best option is renewables – types of natural energy,
such as wind and solar power, which can be replaced as quickly as they are used. 

Neil
Others prefer a return to nuclear energy, arguing that it’s clean, green and more reliable that renewables. But
after infamous nuclear disasters like those at Chernobyl and Fukushima, questions about its safety remain.

Sam
In this programme, we’ll be finding out how green nuclear power is by asking: when it comes to the climate, is
nuclear a friend or foe?

Neil
But before that, Sam, it’s time for my quiz question. Many of the nuclear power stations built since the 1960s
are reaching the end of their planned life, and not everyone thinks they should be replaced. In 2011, one country
announced that it would phase out – meaning gradually stop using - nuclear power altogether. But which
country? Was it:
a)    Germany?
b)    India?   or,
c)    Brazil?

Sam
I’ll go with a) Germany.

Neil
OK, Sam. We’ll reveal the correct answer later in the programme.

Sam
As Neil mentioned, whatever the advantages of nuclear power for the climate, many members of the public
have concerns about nuclear safety.

Neil
Probably the most well-known nuclear accident happened on the 26th of April 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear
power plant in Soviet Ukraine.

Sam
Dutch journalist Mirjam Vossen reflects on what happened with BBC World Service programme, The Real
Story.

Mirjam Vossen
The perceptions of nuclear energy of, I think, a whole generation has been shaped by high impact events, most
notably the Chernobyl disaster… including myself. I have vivid memories of how the media reported on this
event and how scary it was and how frightened everyone was of the radioactive clouds drifting from the
Ukraine towards Europe. So, this is, sort of, ingrained in people’s minds, and for many it hasn’t been … really
been updated.

Neil
It was a frightening time, and Mirjam says she has vivid memories – memories that produce powerful feelings
and strong, clear images in the mind. 
Sam
The accident in Chernobyl changed many people’s opinions of nuclear power in a negative way, and these
opinions became ingrained - strongly held and difficult to change. But Mirjam believes these ingrained public
perceptions of nuclear safety are out-of-date. She argues that such accidents caused by human error could not
happen in the modern nuclear power stations used today. 

Neil
What’s more, nuclear creates a steady supply of power - unlike renewables, which don’t make electricity when
the wind doesn’t blow, or the Sun doesn’t shine.

Sam
So maybe nuclear power is the greenest way of generating energy without fossil fuels.

Neil
Well, not according to Energy Institute researcher Paul Dorfman. Nuclear power stations are located near seas
or large lakes because they need water to cool down. Paul thinks that soon rising seas levels will mean the end
of nuclear as a realistic energy option.

Sam
He thinks money invested in nuclear upgrades would be better spent making clean renewables more reliable
instead, as he explained to BBC World Service programme, The Real Story 

Paul Dorfman
I think the key takeaway is that nuclear’s low carbon electricity unique selling point kind of sits in the context
of a much larger picture that nuclear will be one of the first and most significant casualties to ramping climate
change. So, nuclear’s quite literally on the front line of climate change and not in a good way – that’s because
far from helping with our climate change problems, it’ll add to it.

Neil
One advantage of nuclear power is that it produces electricity using little carbon. Paul Dorfman calls this
its unique selling point. 

Sam
A unique selling point, which is sometimes shortened to ‘USP’, is a common way to describe the feature of
something that makes it different from and better than its competitors.

Neil
But that doesn’t change the fact that rising sea levels would make nuclear an unrealistic, even dangerous,
choice. This is why he calls nuclear power a casualty of climate change, meaning a victim, or something that
suffers as a result of something else happening.

Sam
This also explains why some countries are now turning away from nuclear power towards more renewable
energy sources – countries such as… well, what was the answer to your quiz question, Neil? 

Neil
I asked Sam which country decided to gradually stop using nuclear power.

Sam
I said a) Germany.

Neil
Which was the correct answer! In fact, around 70% of Germany’s electricity now comes from renewables.
Sam
OK, Neil, let’s recap the rest of the vocabulary from this programme, starting with to phase something out,
meaning to gradually stop using something.

Neil
Vivid memories are memories that produce powerful feelings and strong mental images.

Sam
Opinions and beliefs which are ingrained are so strongly held that they are difficult to change.

Neil
Something’s unique selling point, or USP, is the feature that makes it different from and better than its
competitors.

Sam
And finally, a casualty is a person or thing that suffers as a result of something else happening.

Neil
That’s all for this look into nuclear and renewable energy.

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DON’T THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER
English idioms often don’t make sense at first glance, but they provide a unique window into culture and somet
imes have historical origins as well. The story of Peeping Tom and Lady Godiva is a prime example.

If you’re a lover of chocolate, you’ve heard of Godiva chocolates. These luxury chocolates are named after La
dy Godiva of 11th century England. Lady Godiva was a very rich woman, but according to legend, she was also 
a defender of the poor. Godiva was married to the powerful Lord Leofric, who heavily taxed the poor. Godiva p
rotested the unfair taxes to Leofric, but her protests fell upon deaf ears. Leofric joked that he would lower taxe
s when Godiva rode through the streets naked. Leofric never expected her to take the joke seriously, but that’s e
xactly what she did. She agreed to ride a horse with nothing but her long hair to cover her. Before doing so, she 
told the townspeople to stay inside their homes and close their windows. Everyone obeyed except for a tailor na
med Tom, who peeped out his window as she rode by naked on a horse. And that is where we get the English ex
pression peeping Tom, which describes someone who spies on people while they are naked. Historians say that 
Lady Godiva and Leofric were, in fact, real people. Godiva probably never rode through the streets naked, but t
he expression Peeping Tom is still in use today.

Many English idioms come from centuries ago. Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater means to be car
eful not to throw away good things when you are throwing away bad things. In the middle ages, people lived wi
thout the luxury of running water. Back in those days, everyone shared the same bathwater. The father of the ho
use bathed first, and the mother bathed next. The children would bathe last. By this time, the water was so dirty 
that you couldn’t see through it and might accidentally throw the baby out with the bathwater. This expression 
was borrowed from German in the 1800s.

Another common idiom that comes from the 1800s is to turn a blind eye. The British Admiral Nelson was onc
e signaled by his superior to run from a fight. At that time, the military communicated across distances using sig
nal flags. The one eyed Nelson put his telescope up to his blind eye and said, ‘I really do not see the signal.’ He 
continued his attack and won the day. Today, the expression ‘turn a blind eye’, means to choose to ignore some 
part of reality.
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THE MAN WHO STOPPED WORLD WAR III
Throw caution to the wind. With great risks come great rewards. Fortune favors the bold. English
expressions like these have always celebrated men and women of action. But perhaps we should be celebrating
cooler heads. Perhaps we should be studying the cautious, the careful, and the patient among us. Vasili
Arkhipov was all of these things. Because of his caution, patience, and restraint, he stopped World War III and
saved the lives of millions.

In the early 60s, the US and the Soviet Union were in a face-off. The Soviets were sending nuclear missiles to
Cuba, and the US was trying to stop them. Vasili Arkhipov was the 2nd in command on a nuclear submarine
near Cuba.

The situation inside the sub was tense. The air conditioners weren’t working, and the temperature was above 45
degrees. The food was low, and the sailors were limited to one glass of water a day. They were exhausted.

It was under these difficult conditions that US ships tried to force the sub to the water’s surface. The US ships
fired practice explosives that were loud, but couldn’t damage the submarine. The Soviet sub had been out of
contact with Moscow and didn’t know if this was a real attack or not.

The captain was starting to lose it. He had no way of knowing if WWIII had begun. He decided to fire a nuclear
torpedo at one of the US ships. Luckily, it was not the captain’s decision alone. The rules said that the captain,
Arkhipov, and one other officer had to also agree before a nuclear torpedo could be fired. Arkhipov stood his
ground and refused the captain’s order to attack.

If Arkhipov’s sub had fired that torpedo, it would have started a global nuclear war that we still would be
suffering from today. The world owes a debt of gratitude to Arkhipov, a true hero and a model of patience and
restraint.

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IS THIS ART?
Pierre Brassau burst upon the art world at a Swedish art show in 1964. The critics were nearly unanimous in the
ir glowing reviews.

Newspaper art critic Rolf Anderberg gushed over the paintings of the unknown French artist. He wrote, “Pierre 
Brassau paints with powerful strokes, but also with clear determination. His brush strokes twist with furious fast
idiousness. Pierre is an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer.”

Amidst a sea of praise for Brassau’s four paintings, there was only one dissenter who unknowingly hit the nail 
on the head. “Only an ape could have done this,” said the art critic.

Pierre Brassau’s real identity was a West African chimpanzee named Peter who lived in a Swedish zoo. Brassau 
was the creation of a tabloid journalist named Åke “Dacke” Axelsson.
Axelsson wanted to see if the art world could tell the difference between modern art and the work of a chimp. H
e persuaded a local zookeeper to let Peter, the chimp, play with paints. Apparently, Peter ate more paint than he 
actually painted with, but he did produce a number of paintings that Axelsson sent to the art show.

With the exception of that one critic, the art world was thoroughly fooled. Brassau’s biggest fan, writer Rolf An
derberg, wasn’t deterred, though. Sticking to his guns, he said, it “was still the best painting in the exhibition.”

Peter isn’t the only animal artist to make waves in the art world. In the 1950s, another chimp artist also made a 
name for himself in England. At the age of 2, Congo the chimp took an interest in painting and produced over 
400 works of art. While you might think that the work of a chimp would be a random mess, Congo was said to 
have a sense of composition, symmetry, balance, and color.

Congo died in 1964 but not before obtaining some success. Pablo Picasso was said to be a fan and had one of C
ongo’s paintings hanging in his studio. In 2005, three of Congo’s paintings were put up for auction alongside th
e paintings of Warhol and Renoir. While the Renoir and Warhol works went unsold, Congo’s paintings sold for 
$26,620.

What do you think? Can animals create art? Click the link to see if you can tell the difference between art made 
by a human and art made by a chimp.

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Denmark's green hydrogen
Transcript

These giants of renewable energy tower over the Danish countryside. Here in Brande, a pioneering project
offers what might be a glimpse of the future.

This enormous turbine is harnessing energy from the wind - and that power is being used to produce another
type of clean fuel - hydrogen gas.

The pilot plant isn't connected to the grid. And the green hydrogen made here supplies local taxis.

Poul Skjaerbaek, Chief Innovation Officer, Siemens Gamesa 

We can produce a maximum, like, eight kilos per hour with the equipment you see behind me here. So, it's, of
course, extremely small. Nevertheless, eight kilos is actually what a car could drive, like, eight hundred
kilometres on.

The need to slash our carbon emissions has brought hydrogen increasingly into focus.

Poul Skjaerbaek, Chief Innovation Officer, Siemens Gamesa

The good thing with hydrogen, when you burn it, you actually do not get the CO2 emissions, so what comes out
of the exhaust is water, instead of all the nasty stuff we see today.

Today, most hydrogen, about ninety-five percent, is made using fossil fuels. Green hydrogen, however, is
produced from water and renewable electricity. This facility in Kolding makes electrolysers - the technology
needed to produce it.

Hydrogen has been touted as a climate solution before - but it hasn't really taken off. Proponents say it's a
different picture today.
Sebastian Koks Andreassen, CEO, Green Hydrogen Systems
The difference is climate - the need to react rapidly on the climate change. Renewable electricity sources, they
have become available in a much different volume than before and in the past - and they've also become much
cheaper.

Dozens of new green hydrogen plants are now on the horizon. But much needs to be done if the hopes for this
new clean fuel can live up to the hype.

Did you get it?

What is used to produce green hydrogen?

Green hydrogen is produced from water and renewable electricity

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