nuclear power

The British government's second public consultation on nuclear power, "which was run by a company linked to the Prime Minister's personal pollster," has been criticized for material that was "inaccurately or misleadingly presented." In response to a complaint from the environmental group Greenpeace, Britain's Market Research Standards Board ruled that the Opinion Leader firm presented "imbalanced" information that risked leading focus group participants "towards a particular answer." Prime Minister Gordon Brown's pollster, Deborah Mattinson, used to co-chair the firm and "remains a senior figure in its parent company." The Brown government supports building new nuclear plants. The Liberal Democrat energy spokesman said the Standards Board ruling "shows that the Government isn't even competent enough to rig its own consultation." The Brown government says the ruling won't affect its nuclear plans, declaring that "the outcome of the consultation stands." The second consultation was launched after Britain's High Court ruled the government's first consultation on nuclear power a "sham."

Like many others, New York Times journalist Larry Rohter describes former Greenpeace activist-turned-industry consultant Patrick Moore as "the co-chairman of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a pro-nuclear group." (Two weeks earlier, Rohter co-authored a blog post that used an identical description of Moore.) What Rohter doesn't mention is that the coalition is a front group funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). After referring to Moore, Rohter notes that NEI is broadly supportive of plans such as Republican Presidential candidate John McCain's commitment to build 45 new nuclear power stations. An announcement for an upcoming CNBC special on nuclear power makes a similar mistake. The announcement describes Moore as an "environmentalist" who "supports America's nuclear revival and tells CNBC why he's made this stunning about face." Maybe because that's what he's paid to do?

In an opinion column, former Greenpeace activist turned PR consultant Patrick Moore waxes lyrical about a proposal by Luminant to build two new reactors at its Comanche Peak nuclear power station in Texas. Luminant's new reactors, he wrote, would produce "electricity from virtually carbon-free nuclear power." Moore's brief biographical note states only that he is "co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a national grass-roots coalition that promotes nuclear power." What neither Moore nor the Dallas Morning News discloses to readers of the column is that he is a consultant for the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which funds the "coalition." Luminant is a member (pdf) of the NEI. A New York Times blog post referring to Moore also fails to refer the coalition's NEI link, describing it only as a "pro-nuclear group."

International Nuclear Services (INS) is looking for PR support for an unpopular issue -- transportation of nuclear waste. "INS was created out of the 'spent fuel services' business of Sellafield to provide a service to more than 20 global utility firms. It manages the transportation of their nuclear waste and subsequent reprocessing at Sellafield." British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) was an international company owned by the UK government, involved in all stages of the nuclear process, from designing reactors and manufacturing fuel, to decommissioning reactors and dealing with radioactive waste. Sellafield emerged from the re-organization of BNFL as the company responsible for the delivery of contracts at the Sellafield and Capenhurst sites in England on behalf of site owners, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The contract will be worth around £550,000 ($1,017,500) over four years. Sellafield press officer Steve Barnes said: "This role can only be delivered by a specialised firm that has in-depth knowledge of international relations and the issues of transportation of nuclear materials overseas."

Patrick Moore: What doesn't exist can hurt youSammy Wilson, the Northern Ireland Minister for Environment, is an avowed climate change skeptic who claims that "there is no conclusive evidence that greenhouse gases are a major cause of climate change." While Wilson's claims are at odds with the science, former Greenpeace activist turned corporate consultant Patrick Moore supported Wilson, claiming that there are scientists on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who don't believe climate change is man-made, "but their views are ignored." However, as a consultant to the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a Nuclear Energy Institute front group, Moore recently argued for new nuclear power stations, because "the greatest threat to the earth" is "our addiction to fossil fuels and the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions they cause." Another Wilson supporter is Tom Harris, the Executive Director of International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC) and a former executive with the High Park Group (HPG), a Canadian PR firm.

On parliament's last day before its summer break, the British government publicly released thirty ministerial statements, including one listing the salaries of "special advisers," one detailing the siting criteria for new nuclear power stations and another detailing the guests entertained at Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official residence, Chequers. The document dump was dubbed by some as "take out the trash day," after an episode of the fictional television series on the White House, the West Wing. Mike Granatt, a former head of the British government's Government Information and Communications Service and now a partner in the PR firm Luther Pendragon, explained to PR Week, "You shove everything out on one day and you hope the volume of it means there's only a certain amount of room in the papers and on TV and radio, so that squeezes it. And, secondly, you take the hit at once."

Both the Democratic and Republican conventions are bringing in millions of dollars in corporate sponsors, but there is no reporting requirement for either the political parties or the companies. There are a reported 146 organizational and corporate donors, but less than a quarter have chosen to disclose information about their donations. Some of the lead donors are telecom companies that just weeks ago received retroactive immunity from Congress for participation in the Bush spy program. AT&T is such a large scale donor that their logo is placed prominently on the attendees' welcome bags. Other identified donors include Motorola, Coca-Cola, Google, Qwest Communications, Comcast, and nuclear energy giant Xcel Energy. Stephen Weissman of the Campaign Finance Institute, explained that "to have that speech come off well, to have the lighting and the rigging and all of the sound and the Broadway producers who do it, to have the production and the setting look just right, to have specially built podiums and so forth, that will earn gratitude."

Asked why people like Patrick Moore and Stewart Brand, who made their name as environmentalists are now nuclear power advocates, the highly regarded energy efficiency analyst Amory Lovins was blunt: "I think they haven't done their homework. And I keep asking for their analysis and not getting it, because I don't think they have one." Nuclear power, he argues, is no solution to global warming. "If you buy more nuclear plants, you're going to get about two to ten times less climate solution per dollar, and you'll get it about twenty to forty times slower" than efficient use of electricity, renewables and micropower, he said. Lovins is also dismissive of claims that a "nuclear renaissance" is sweeping the world. "It's a very carefully fabricated illusion. And the reason it isn't happening is there are no buyers. That is, Wall Street is not putting a penny of private capital into the industry, despite 100-plus percent subsidies," he told Amy Goodman.

Two years ago, an editorial in the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) referred to the dream run that Patrick Moore and Christine Todd Whitman were getting in the media representing the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition. CJR noted that few journalists were disclosing that the group was created by the Nuclear Energy Institute with assistance from Hill & Knowlton. "Part of the thinking, surely, was that the press would peg them as dedicated environmentalists who have turned into pro-nuke cheerleaders, rather than as paid spokespeople. And the press came through." They still do. Jay Hancock, a business columnist for the Baltimore Sun, wrote in his blog that "Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore has decided that the risks of nuclear energy are lower than the risks of continuing to use carbon energy." Hancock is not the only journalist not to disclose Moore's nuclear industry ties to his readers. The week before his post, a CanWest News Service story simply described Moore as an "avid proponent of nuclear" power.

Nuclear advocates often point to France as a success story, with 80% of the country's electricity coming from nuclear power. But a recent leak at the Tricastin plant in Bollene, near Avignon, has raised concerns about health, safety, and transparency. The site houses both a nuclear reactor and a radioactive treatment plant. "Approximately 30 cubic metres of liquid containing unenriched uranium spilled from an overflowing reservoir at the Tricastin facility, which handles liquids contaminated by uranium, into the ground and into the Gaffiere and Lauzon rivers." The public was not warned of the breach until the day after it occurred, nor was the government notified in a timely fashion. The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) inspected the Tricastin plant after the leak and "found that existing prevention measures were deficient." Until more testing can be done, "People in nearby towns have been warned not to drink any water or eat fish from the rivers ... Officials have also cautioned people not to swim in the rivers or use their water to irrigate crops." An anti-nuclear non-governmental organization is planning legal action against the plant's operator, Societe Auxiliaire de Tricastin (Socatri), over its delay in informing the public.