Nuclear Greenwashing

CBG continues its efforts to expose the aggressive PR campaign by nuclear greenwashing forces to divert critical resources from solar, wind, and storage – a dagger at the heart of true climate change measures. Greenwashing is the promotion of false solutions to the climate crisis that distract from true solutions. Nuclear greenwashing promotes nulcear power instead of carbon free power sources like solar, wind, hydro, and thermal.

During 2022’s fight over the extension of Diablo Canyon, CBG staff noticed a curious trend in the media coverage: in story after story, environmentalists were being portrayed as divided over nuclear power. Upon investigation, many of these supposed pro-nuclear environmentalists turned out to have dubious backgrounds or outright industry ties.

If key voices loudly proclaiming for a nuclear renaissance are not really environmentalists but rather a closely coordinated and well-funded campaign, the public deserves to know. And the misleading assertions they make need to be countered. At a time when much of Europe is at risk of radioactive exposure because of attacks on Ukrainian reactors, while nearly half of France’s much-touted fleet of nuclear plants are shut down because of worrisome cracks and corrosion in key cooling piping, and the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. in three decades is coming in twice over budget and years behind schedule, nuclear propagandists are continuing a full-court press of PR claiming nukes are safe and cheap, and the problem of radioactive waste dangerous for tens of generations can be ignored. This July, CBG’s Greenwashing report will be published here on this website.