One of the Biggest Environmental Misconceptions of All Time

As regular readers of my work know, I don't like to step into political debates here at Empire Financial Research... When I do opine on something close to the political spectrum, it's because I see an interesting economic opportunity that has been politicized. These opportunities aren't fundamentally political by nature, but have become political issues […] Not rendering correctly? View this e-mail as a web page [here](. [Empire Financial Daily] One of the Biggest Environmental Misconceptions of All Time By Enrique Abeyta --------------------------------------------------------------- [One thing D.C. insiders can agree on]( One corner of the global economy is projected to explode to $10 trillion in value. But it's not AI, semiconductors, cloud computing, 6G, or cryptos. It isn't self-driving cars, biotech, pharma, or anything to do with health care, either. This industry is far more important to life than all of these technologies put together. And both Democrats and Republicans alike are finally getting on board. [Get the full story here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- As regular readers of my work know, I don't like to step into political debates here at Empire Financial Research... When I do opine on something close to the political spectrum, it's because I see an interesting economic opportunity that has been politicized. These opportunities aren't fundamentally political by nature, but have become political issues through time. It won't surprise you that the politicization of an issue seldom (if ever) results in a positive economic outcome... Nor for that matter an outcome that's in the best interest of society as a whole. This brings me to a controversial topic... I'm talking about nuclear power. When you hear the word "nuclear," you might think of nuclear weapons – the horrific loss of life at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 during World War II and (especially if you are of a certain age) the constant fear of nuclear Armageddon amid the Cold War. You also might think of the nuclear accidents through the years – Three Mile Island in 1979, Chernobyl in 1986, and Fukushima in 2011. What you probably don't think of is the most reliable, economic, and environmentally friendly power source every discovered by mankind. Nothing else is even close. To say that nuclear power has a PR problem is a vast understatement... Off the back of the fear about nuclear weapons, a few isolated incidents of accidents, and the perception that nuclear waste is a major problem, there has been a "green" pushback against nuclear power for the past 50 years. --------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Link: [The Fed's Boldest Move Ever...]( A national currency “reset” is coming to America. With every dollar soon under Fed control, how will FedNow impact your day-to-day expenses?... your paycheck?... your social security?... your investments? [Don’t wait to find out](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Interestingly, though, not even the greens would argue about the benefits of nuclear power... A single uranium fuel pellet – which is about the size of your fingertip – contains as much energy as 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas, 149 gallons of oil, or 2,000 pounds of coal. And think about the intermittency problems with renewables... When it comes to wind and solar power, the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine – meaning that renewables can't power a grid entirely... they can only supplement it. Sure, battery technology exists... but it's expensive. To install enough batteries to back up a single day's worth of global electricity would cost $20 trillion – that's about a quarter of global annual economic output! And when it comes to the nuclear weapons issue, these aren't particularly related to nuclear power. Since the bombs were dropped in 1945, we haven't seen a single use of large-scale nuclear weaponry against humanity – that's 78 years and counting. Regarding the accidents... do you know how many people died in each of those? For two of the most famous accidents – Three Mile Island and Fukushima – the answer is zero. In fact, there has been only one death attributed directly to either – with one worker dying of lung cancer due to radiation exposure following Fukushima in 2018. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster had 31 casualties and maybe as many as 50. It was also due to a faulty design built by a failing regime with no resources and happened at plant that was built in 1972. How about the nuclear waste issue? There's no doubt that nuclear waste is produced that is dangerous to humans. The vast majority of the waste is called low-level radioactive wase and isn't a real problem, but there is some high-level radioactive waste. This is usually the irradiated or "spent" nuclear reactor fuel. There has been a lot written on this subject, but the overwhelming consensus of scientists is that we have enough room to dispose (store) waste safely. The science behind this is quite straightforward. One question that remains, though, is what will happen in the far future? There's an interesting case of some radioactive material that was discovered in Gabon in western Central Africa, which was generated in a natural event more than 2 billion years ago. It was in the ground without any protective storage or anything... And in those 2 billion years, the material moved 30 feet. You can believe the fear... or you can believe the science. I'll go with the science. So why bring up the concept of nuclear power today? First, this has been a topic of great interest for me. The disconnect between the stated environmental goals of the developed world and the actions in regard to nuclear power are absolutely mind-boggling. You might be familiar with what happened in Germany... The country had one of the largest, most efficient, and safest nuclear fleets in the world – one that was essentially dismantled by its "green" party. What did Germany replace that power generation with? Natural gas... provided by Russia. We know how that worked out. Something similar has happened in Westchester County, New York – just north of New York City. There, the Indian Point Energy Center nuclear plant was decommissioned despite having decades remaining of useful life – with power generation ceasing in 2021. The lost output has mostly been replaced by power generated by plants that burn natural gas and emit more pollution. Second, we're likely now finally reaching a point where the political consensus globally is beginning to align towards the acceptance of nuclear power. Eventually, even politicians can't ignore the intersection of economics and science. (Of course, they can do it for a very, very long time... but not forever.) The latest issue of Energy Supercycle Investor just came out with the details on how the opportunity can make you money over the long run... In it, my colleagues Whitney Tilson and Gabe Marshank provide an excellent discussion of the physics, technology, and economics of the nuclear opportunity. Most important, they share the details on seven off-the-beaten-path stock ideas that few investors are discussing. Find out how to gain instant access to this brand-new issue of Energy Supercycle Investor – and the seven stocks Whitney and Gabe recommend to take advantage of the setup in nuclear power – by [clicking here](. Regards, Enrique Abeyta --------------------------------------------------------------- If someone forwarded you this e-mail and you would like to be added to the Empire Financial Daily e-mail list to receive e-mails like this every weekday, simply [sign up here](. © 2023 Empire Financial Research. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, copying, or redistribution, in whole or in part, is prohibited without written permission from Empire Financial Research, 1125 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201 [www.empirefinancialresearch.com.]( You received this e-mail because you are subscribed to Empire Financial Daily. [Unsubscribe from all future e-mails](