Nuclear Energy's Green Glow

The nuclear industry is painting itself green. Proclaiming nuclear power as a clean-air solution to coal and gas fueled power plants, industry lobbyists are trying to win credits for not polluting the air. ''We have all this generation and it produces zero emissions," Brent Dorsey, director of corporate environmental programs for Entergy, which owns Vermont Yankee and the Pilgrim plant, told the Boston Globe. ''We are the unsung hero for clean air." Meanwhile, Corporate Watch's Chris Grimshaw reports, "Regaining public acceptance of nuclear power will be one of the PR world's biggest challenges according to PR guru, Dejan Vercic. Speaking at the 2004 AGM of the UK's Institute of Public Relations, in June, he said that within 5-10 years PR agencies would have to win back the nuclear industry's (and biotechnology's) 'licence to operate.'" Grimshaw's recent piece, "It's Official: No Dark Machiavellian Conspiracy for New Nuclear Power," looks at how nuclear industry PR campaigns are stoking media coverage in the UK.