Atomic Hope: Swimming against the tide in nuclear power debate

Frankie Fenton’s lucid, informative documentary follows the world’s small but important pro-nuclear movement. They have their work cut out for them. Activists from countries as far away as Japan and Switzerland are hampered by the same problem. It’s complicated when some people can’t differentiate between nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

“I personally have very strong emotions against [the] nuclear bomb,” explains Japanese nuclear scientist Moto-Yasu Kinoshita, who lost relatives in the Nagasaki blast. “I think the people in Japan recognise the power and they want to make it for peaceful use.”

For the general public, atomic energy can be an image of Homer Simpson asleep at his workstation. It’s Chernobyl. It’s Fukushima. It hardly matters that nobody in Fukushima died from radiation exposure.

Prof Gerry Thomas, chair of the Chernobyl Tissue Bank, patiently explains that the 28 deaths attributed to the Chernobyl disaster were workers and first responders who experienced acute radiation poisoning.

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Among the local population in Belarus and Ukraine, everybody subsequently “...expected a general increase in cancer, an increase in leukaemia; those just have not occurred. And the studies have been very rigorous,” says Thomas.

A parade of environmental scientists and activists explain that fears rooted in such worst-case scenarios must reasonably be eclipsed by current climate concerns; concerns that simply cannot be matched by wind or solar renewables, they say.

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“There’s nothing you can do to sunlight and wind to make them more energy-dense,” notes Michael Shellenberger. The United Nations and various scientific bodies have repeatedly found that nuclear power produces lower carbon emissions than solar or hydroelectric dams. It may be the only ‘clean’ energy capable of keeping pace with the climate crisis.

“But there’s a big problem,” adds Shellenberger at a TED Talk entitled Fear of Nuclear Power is Hurting the Environment. “People really don’t like it.”

Fenton’s film contains scenes of Green protesters turning on pro-nuclear Green protesters at a rally. Various US states and Germany have been forced to return to fossil fuels after abandoning nuclear options.

However, perhaps the tide is turning. Sweden gets about 30 per cent of its electricity from nuclear, and France about 70 per cent. Meanwhile, younger activists and prominent female environmentalists, including Mothers for Nuclear’s Iida Ruishalme, are joining a movement that, as she suggests, was once the preserve of male science nerds.

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Fenton says he didn’t set out to make a pro-nuclear film but was swayed by the weight of the evidence. His film swims against the tide. He knows exactly what Atomic Hope has to say and he has assembled a splendid ensemble to do the talking.