The naked climate truth

The association Atomkraft – Ja Tak wishes to contribute to an open-minded and evidence-based debate on climate and energy policy. We believe that Denmark’s green image is misleading and want to give the population the true picture.

Denmark gets only 8% of its energy from wind energy, the rest comes from dirty sources such as oil, wood, gas, and coal. When you factor it all in, Denmark’s CO2 emissions have increased by 5% since 1990. The share of wind, solar and other clean energy is growing by just 0.44 percentage points per year: at the current pace, it would take about 192 years to reach 100% clean energy. We do not have 192 years to save the climate. There is a need for a real green revolution in Danish energy policy.

We want a future where abundant clean nuclear energy ensures harmony between ecosystems and human well-being. Denmark should look to countries like France, where 45% of all energy comes from CO2-free nuclear power, and where electricity emits 6 times as little CO2 per kilowatt-hour as in Denmark.

Nuclear power has emerged as by far the most efficient (and thus cheapest) way to a fossil-free future. Contrary to what many of us believe, nuclear power is actually also the safest of all energy sources – with less life on its conscience than even solar and wind energy.

In the climate debate, the environment and nature are paradoxically often forgotten. Wind energy and solar energy are natural energies, but the machines that harvest the natural energies and feed them into our sockets are anything but natural. The truth is whether energy machines are industrializing nature: A wind farm requires 976 times as much land, and 10 times as many raw materials, to produce one hour of power as a nuclear power plant. If Denmark were to run on 100% wind energy, almost all of Jutland would have to be one large wind farm. If Denmark ran on 100% nuclear power, it would require only 1/3 of Amager. You don’t save nature by digging it up and filling it with energy machines. Nature is saved by leaving it alone.

Researchers have therefore begun to call “renewable energy” a misleading contradiction: “Renewable” energy machines such as wind turbines are not renewable but must be changed every 25 years, and the machines are built from limited and rare resources. In addition, “renewable” also implies that something is “persistent” or “constant”, which is exactly what wind energy and solar energy are not.

Nuclear power produces huge amounts of stable energy with an almost non-existent land and resource footprint, and can therefore ensure human progress, as well as the sovereignty of nature. The unstable weather-based energy sources industrialize large natural areas, but cannot industrialize societies. The energy is too weak and unreliable. This explains why no developed country has significantly reduced its fossil fuel consumption with weather-based energy. Wind turbines and solar cells are built on top of existing energy systems; The spine of the energy system remains fossil. Stable nuclear power permanently replaces fossils, as it does not require a fossil backup.

Where are we going?

We believe that it is madness that a country that wants to be a green superpower ignores physical and ecological reality. The taboo against nuclear power must be lifted if the green brand is to be maintained. It is climate policy with both blinkers and handcuffs on when you exclude the world’s largest single source of clean and CO2-free energy from the equation in advance.

We Danes are proud of our honesty, curiosity, and pragmatism, and we are skeptical of fact-abandoned Disney stories that we associate with American politics. The United States had Disney, but Denmark can also participate, we have the great Hans Christian Andersen. We have written a modern version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” called “The Wind Adventure”. The association Atomkraft Ja Tak is the rebellious voice of the youth, shouting: “They do not have data on!”.

The call is frowned upon in our parents’ generation, where the majority are more concerned with avoiding nuclear power than stopping climate change. They cannot be known to maintain their nuclear delusion, because the planet needed nuclear power yesterday. With an uncompromising insistence on evidence-based climate policy, the Danish Atomic Energy Association Ja Tak will instead tell a modern version of The Ugly Duckling: Nuclear energy is different and abnormal, and that is what makes it beautiful. It’s time to face power and fear with truth.

We mobilize nuclear advocates and climate nerds in a community where we can help each other conduct an enlightening, curious, and constructive debate. Together, we must shed light on all the misinformation that prevails in the current climate debate. We will give passive nuclear power supporters tools and support to become active nuclear advocates and help those who want to know more.

Our work is based on enablement and empowerment.

Enablement is about making knowledge and data about energy and climate policy more accessible and understandable to the population, thereby supporting informed attitudes and decisions. Empowerment is about supporting empowerment by setting social and organizational frameworks for the new energy movement. We will facilitate the activism of nuclear advocates through the production of information materials and infrastructure. We want to provide effective communication so that nuclear advocates know how to present a good message in an appealing and convincing way.

We warmly welcome everyone into our nuclear family, across political persuasions, professions, and generations. So do not hesitate to sign up or contact us if you think you can contribute to the cause. We need people to help with graphics, organization, events, SoMe, and much more. If you are a journalist or student, we are happy to help with sources of research.

Both the world and nuclear power have changed over the past 50 years, as have our attitudes. We need to go back to the future – we need nuclear power!

Short term (0-5 years):

1- Revision of Denmark’s CO2 accounts so that CO2 from biomass and imports is included in the 70% target.

2- To increase public knowledge about climate and energy policy and nurture an informed and critical political debate. We expect that the efforts will gradually make the population overwhelmingly positive towards nuclear power.

3- Stop Danish governments’ active sabotage of nuclear power under the auspices of the EU.

4- Open to public research support for nuclear power.

5- Allocate tax funds for the development and demonstration of Danish reactor concepts, such as Seaborg Technologies’ and Copenhagen Atomics’ groundbreaking technologies. Creation of public-private partnerships between technical universities and nuclear companies.

Long term (5+ years):

1- The ban on nuclear power in Denmark must be lifted. In the long term, the focus is on politicians.

2- The Danish Energy Agency will set up a unit to assess the potential for new nuclear power in Denmark’s energy system. In particular, SMR reactors and Molten Salt Reactors, are technologies that in this decade will revolutionize the world’s energy markets. Furthermore, the unit will assess regulatory models and financing models for nuclear power in a Danish context, based on best practices in the rest of the world.

3- Equivalence of nuclear power with other green energy sources, so that nuclear power has the same economic conditions. Designation of locations for nuclear power in Denmark.

4- Gradual phasing-in of nuclear power in the Danish energy system.