A paper by NASA's climate change scientist James Hansen is making headlines today for its claim that nuclear power has already saved around 2 million deaths related to pollution, and could save many more in the future.
The paper was, at least in part, prompted by the largely negative press given to nuclear power, especially after the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. The authors wanted to analyze just how accurate those criticisms were.
"I was very disturbed by all the negative and in many cases unfounded hysteria regarding nuclear power after the Fukushima accident," says report coauthor Pushker A. Kharecha, another climate scientist for NASA.
Suprisingly, Karecha and Hansen were unable to find any broad studies on preventable deaths, though they were able to find a 2007 study that detailed the number of deaths attributable to coal and nuclear power on a per-unit basis.
Using those numbers, as well as historic figures for generation of the two forms of energy, the researchers were able to get a rough estimate of how the lives of people around the world were affected by nuclear power.
The study also predicts that nuclear power could save over 7 million lives in the future. Harden and Karecha estimated that a comparatively measly 5000 deaths have already been directly attributable to nuclear power, but that the number of lives saved is well worth it.
"Our results for both avoided GHG emissions and avoided mortality could be substantial underestimates," the study points out.
The BBC has claimed that the study is not legitimate because it does not make any mention of how much power goes into building a nuclear power plant, which the British news station contends is a hefty amount. While it does take a lot of energy to build a nuclear power plant, if the researchers had been using historical energy consumption figures than that should already be factored into the final totals.
The paper has been accepted for publication in the popular journal Environmental Science and Technology. Hansen has become a public figure in recent years, first for his opposition to the Bush government's attempts to silence him and later as an outspoken advocate for climate change awareness.
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