At the heart of Greenpeace’s report ‘Left in the dust: Areva's radioactive legacy in the desert towns of Niger’ is the human cost of nuclear power. If we are going to embrace nuclear power then, every time you flick a switch and nuclear-powered light bulb comes on, you must accept the suffering of the likes of the people who live around Areva’s uranium mines in Niger (and those people are by no means the only people to suffer at the hands of the nuclear industry).
This is what the nuclear industry wants us to forget. According to them, nuclear power is just a matter ‘safe’, ‘clean’ and ‘reliable’ reactors producing ‘low carbon’ electricity. They don’t want to think about where the fuel for those reactors come from, about the contaminated streets of Arlit and Akokan. They don’t want you to think about the people of Niger trapped at the bottom of the United Nation’s Human Development Index.
But, if you’re pro-nuclear power, think about them you must.
Find out more:
- AREVA’S dirty little secret
- From Niger to Geneva
- Left in the Dust - Areva's uranium mining in Niger
