Earth Equity News

International Renewable Energy Agency Rejects 'Renewable Nuclear' Category. By James Kanter, NYTimes, August 3, 2009. "Many environmental groups are fundamentally opposed to the notion that nuclear power is a renewable form of energy -- on the grounds that it produces harmful waste byproducts and relies on extractive industries to procure fuel like uranium. Even so, the nuclear industry and pro-nuclear officials from countries including France have been trying to brand the technology as renewable, on the grounds that it produces little or no greenhouse gases. Branding nuclear as renewable could also enable nuclear operators to benefit from some of the same subsidies and friendly policies offered to clean energies like wind, solar and biomass. So far, however, efforts to categorize nuclear as a renewable source of power are making little headway. The latest setback came last week, when the head of the International Renewable Energy Agency -- an intergovernmental group known as IRENA that advises about 140 member countries on making the transition to clean energy -- dismissed the notion of including nuclear power among its favored technologies."