Tesla CEO Elon Musk called for Europe to generate more nuclear power in a tweet on Sunday, citing concerns about a gas shortage.
Musk wrote that it is “extremely obvious” that Europe should restart dormant nuclear power plants and increase the output of those that are operational. The tweet, which had been retweeted over 31,100 times as of press time, drew some criticism online.
“Until one is mismanaged again and leaks everywhere. That’s the risk of more,” Edge Consulting Group founder Jim Osman responded. Musk, on the other hand, claimed that the notion of radiation risk is incorrect and issued a challenge to his detractors.
“For those who (mistakenly) think this is a radiation risk, pick what you think is the worst location. I will travel there & eat locally grown food on TV,” Musk tweeted.
He added that he did so in the Japanese prefecture of Fukushima, months after the nuclear accident there.
According to a press release from SolarCity, which Tesla acquired in 2016, Musk visited Fukushima in July 2011. Musk’s trip was also covered by the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. Insider was unable to independently confirm whether Musk ate locally grown food, as he claimed.
There have been two major nuclear-plant disasters in history: the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union, and the 2011 disaster at Fukushima. Children and emergency and recovery workers are more vulnerable to radiation-related health effects in Chernobyl, but “the vast majority of the population need not live in fear of serious health consequences,” according to a United Nations assessment of the disaster released in 2021. Another UN study, published in 2021, found “no adverse health effects” among Fukushima residents directly related to the accident’s radiation exposure.
Musk’s call for more nuclear energy in Europe comes just two days after he advocated for an increase in US oil and gas output to compensate for any decline in Russian supplies.
According to Energy Intelligence, Russian oil exports have dropped by one-third as a result of sweeping Western sanctions imposed on Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Although the sanctions do not specifically target Russian oil and gas exports, the trade publication reported that there was “general reluctance among buyers to risk taking Russian cargoes.”
