Tuesday 2 May 2023

Finland Greens endorse nuclear power

Click above for the article
This has to be in the “better late than never” category. After all, they’re about 50 years at least, behind. Had they not been against nuclear in the 70s, together with Greenpeace and every Green group at the time, we would already have had zero carbon electricity. That’s why I’ve said before: the Greens are the single biggest reason for our carbon emissions today. Not the fossil fuel companies, because they were just reacting to market needs, and not the government who simply succumbed to the huge public pressure against nuclear, fostered by the likes of Greenpeace. But the Greens themselves, who demonised the only source of clean, safe, despatchable electric power. 

I’m late to this news above. I just heard someone else the other day saying they’d just heard the “Greenpeace in Finland” has changed its mind on nuclear. I’m not sure it’s actually Greenpeace, rather than the “Finnish Green Party, , as I’m guessing that Greenpeace still holds to its antediluvian, scientifically illiterate view on nuclear. Sigh. 

Snip: 

In a historic shift, Finland’s Green Party voted overwhelmingly to adopt a fully pro-nuclear stance at its national meeting.
The party manifesto now states that nuclear is “sustainable energy” and demands the reform of current energy legislation to streamline the approval process for SMRs (small modular reactors). Finland’s is the first Green Party to adopt such a position.
“I am very happy and proud,” said Tea Törmänen, who attended the conference as a voting member as chair of the Savonia/Karelia chapter of Viite, the pro-science internal group of the party. “This is a historical moment in the history of the green movement, as we are the first green party in the world to officially let go of anti-nuclearism.”
The action was taken at the two-day Vihreät De Gröna (Green Party) party conference, which included 400 participants representing local party groups and other interest groups from across the Nordic country. It ended yesterday in the town of Joensuu. [More...]