Greenpeace Co-Founder Calls on Former Group to Support Nuclear

Co-founder of Greenpeace and leading environmentalist Patrick Moore encouraged his former organization to support nuclear energy at a speech yesterday at Wits University in South Africa. Here is the account from The Times of South Africa.

Here is another account by Engineering News Online of South Africa: Greenpeace co-founder Moore backs nuclear power.

A blog sponsored by South Africa's Mail & Guardian had a less sanguine viewpoint about building more nuclear power plants.

Despite the wide range of opinions, nuclear energy is making a comeback in countries outside the United States. South Africa has joined a long list of countries now considering building new nuclear power plants.

Several blogs continue to argue that Moore is not credible because he is paid by the nuclear industry. However, Moore's viewpoints on nuclear energy preceded his association with the industry. He believes expansion of nuclear power is the best way to combat climate change--he would say this regardless of who signs his paychecks. I would imagine that Greenpeace employees believed in the organization's mission before receiving their own paychecks.

The problem for organizations that continue to oppose nuclear energy is that it is one of the best options for meeting our growing electricity needs without producing significant additional greenhouse gases. Thus the existence of people like Patrick Moore, who are both bona fide environmentalists and support nuclear, is a constant reminder of a different perspective.

Finally, if you are looking for more background, you can check out another great profile by Politico on Why a Greenpeace co-founder went nuclear.