💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 3731.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 06:34:34. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2021-12-03)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2012-01-12 07:08:51
By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent
The evil villains in James Bond movies are being blamed for casting a
long-lasting shadow over the image of nuclear power, says the president of the
Royal Society of Chemistry.
Prof David Phillips says that Dr No, with his personal nuclear reactor, helped
to create a "remorselessly grim" reputation for atomic energy.
Prof Phillips was speaking ahead of the 50th anniversary of the movie.
The chemistry organisation says it wants a "renaissance" in nuclear power.
Prof Phillips says the popularity of the Dr No movie from 1962 created an
enduringly negative image of nuclear power - as something dangerous that could
be wielded by megalomaniacs with aspirations to world domination.
Unfair image
The villain of the movie, planning mass destruction from his secret Caribbean
hideout, eventually dies in the cooling pool of his nuclear reactor, having
been foiled by James Bond, played by Sean Connery.
Against a background of the cold war and a nuclear arms race, the movie showed
a world of intelligence agencies, glamorous spies, secretive assassins and
underground laboratories.
Start Quote
I don't think they've got a top secret fake volcanic island though. But if they
did, it would probably be cheaper to build than a nuclear power station
Richard George Greenpeace
But the Royal Society of Chemistry, which promotes the work of chemical
sciences, says that it also meant that millions of people who saw the film saw
nuclear technology being presented as a "barely-controllable force for evil".
Later Bond villains, as part of their cat-stroking, laser-pointing,
world-destroying repertoire, also had nuclear ambitions.
When there are worries about nuclear safety - such as following the tsunami in
Japan - the Royal Society of Chemistry fears that the public reaction is still
shaped by such emotive, negative associations.
As such, Prof Phillips says that when nuclear power is discussed "it is not at
all surprising that the public at home and abroad are sceptical".
"But the RSC asserts that nuclear power has to be part of the future national
energy mix, in which it plays a major role, complemented by renewable sources.
Fossil fuels have to be eradicated for people to live in a healthy
environment."
"Let's say yes to nuclear and no to Dr No's nonsense."
'Unsafe'
This message was not accepted by the Green Party - which argued that Bond
movies reflected concerns rather than created them.
Start Quote
Let's say yes to nuclear and no to Dr No's nonsense
David Phillips Royal Society of Chemistry
"Although James Bond is fiction, the truth is that nuclear power is dangerous,
dirty and unsafe," said spokesperson, Penny Kemp.
"It is improbable to think that people's perceptions have been influenced
solely by The World is Not Enough, but this film came after the Chernobyl
disaster so the film was merely picking up on a real fear people have of
nuclear power. And rightly so."
Richard George of Greenpeace said: "A handful of Bond films haven't tarnished
the nuclear industry's reputation. They've managed to do that all by
themselves.
"I don't think they've got a top secret fake volcanic island though. But if
they did, it would probably be cheaper to build than a nuclear power station."