Thread by @ShellenbergerMD

Japan to build 22 coal plants that will kill thousands & emit as much CO2 as all the passenger cars sold each year in the U.S. nytimes.com/2020/02/03/cli…

Consider nuclear’s global death toll in context. These are *annual deaths.*

- walking: 270,000
- driving: 1,350,000
- working: 2,300,000
- air pollution: 4,200,000

By contrast, nuclear’s death total is likely to be around 200.

forbes.com/sites/michaels…

“If Japan had decided to keep all nuclear reactors open in 2012 & had met its energy needs by reducing coal, oil, LNG and other energy sources, [Japan] would have saved 9,493 lives based on the air pollution of that year alone.”

forbes.com/sites/jamescon…

Wait, why didn’t Japan follow Germany’s lead and try to replace its nuclear plants with renewables instead of coal?

Oh, right:

forbes.com/sites/michaels…