by M.V. Ramana
Verso Press
1/6/2026, paperback
SKU: 9781804290033
NUCLEAR POWER WILL NOT SAVE US
The climate crisis has inspired new hope in nuclear energy. Its advocates claim we already have the technology of the future, ready to be perfected and deployed. But as M. V. Ramana argues in this urgent and lucid book, such thinking is not only naïve but dangerous.
Beyond the horrific risk of severe accidents and the intractable problem of waste disposal, nuclear energy fails the two key tests for any climate solution: cost and time. More expensive than wind and solar, it is also far slower to bring online. A typical plant takes a decade to build; permitting and financing often add another. These are years we do not have.
Nuclear Is Not the Solution dismantles the myth of cheap, clean atomic energy and exposes the vested interests that seek to profit from the technology while offloading its costs and risks onto the public.
Reviews:
"Ramana's argument is compelling: claims for 'advanced' nuclear power plants are distractions from the safer, more cost-effective, and proven approach of replacing fossil fuels with renewables." -- Frank N. Von Hippel, co-author of Unmaking The Bomb
"With great care and clarity, Ramana confirms that as urgent as it is to change how we produce and use electricity to address the climate crisis, it's equally urgent that we do not look to nuclear energy to do so." -- Ray Acheson, author of Abolishing State Violence and Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy
About the Author:
M.V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security and Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He is the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India and co-editor of Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream. Ramana is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, the Canadian Pugwash Group, the International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group, and the team that produces the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Leo Szilard Award from the American Physical Society.