Gary Jobson, a leading U.S. sailor and sailing commentator, is working on a 90-minute "documentary" promoting nuclear power. The film, which is scheduled to be completed in May, will feature interviews with Marvin Fertel, the president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the nuclear industry's main lobbying group as well as Patrick Moore and Christie Todd Whitman, who head up the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, an Institute front group. "We're happy to participate in it because it's an important issue," said Scott Peterson, vice president of communications for the NEI. The film will also include interviews with Ted Turner and Mike Wallace, the vice chairman and chief operating officer of Constellation Energy. According to Jobson, after making a documentary on the New York Yacht Club he was approached by a member who suggested making a movie on nuclear power. Jobson proposed that he do a documentary first and a movie later. "The yacht club member, who works in the energy industry and wants to remain anonymous, has pledged to fund both projects," reports Theresa Winslow.

World Nuclear News, a pro-nuclear website run by the World Nuclear Association, is upbeat about the draft "Danish text" climate change agreement. The text, which was secretly drafted by the governments of the U.K., the U.S., Denmark and Australia, has provoked uproar at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen. World Nuclear News notes that that "there are no technology exclusions in the Danish text, in contrast to previous agreements which have seen nuclear excluded from a group of favoured power sources." The draft text states that parties "commit to enable the accelerated large scale development, transfer and deployment of environmentally sound and climate friendly technologies". The nuclear industry has been lobbying to have nuclear projects included in the Clean Development Mechanism, a scheme which allows the funding of 'low carbon' projects in developing countries. The draft agreement would also the allow the experimental carbon capture and storage technology, which has been promoted by the coal industry, to be included in the Clean Development Mechanism.

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the peak nuclear industry lobby group in the U.S., is an enthusiastic promoter of the idea of a "nuclear renaissance." NEI publishes NEI Nuclear Notes, a blog linking to stories hyping the prospects for an expanded role for nuclear power in a carbon-constrained world. However, a recent profile on the financial prospects of the French nuclear company, EDF, doesn't rate a mention. With plans for 11 new reactors -- four in Britain, four in the U.S., two in China and one in France -- EDF figures highly in the nuclear industry's growth plans. (EDF is also a part of a consortium wanting to build four reactors in Italy and another in the United Arab Emirates.) However, The Economist reports that "to the dismay of advocates of a nuclear renaissance, the cost and complexity of embarking on several big projects at once is weighing on the firm, despite its size and government backing."

The Lansing State Journal is the latest in a long line of media outlets to provide a pro-nuclear platform to former Greenpeace activist turned corporate PR consultant, Patrick Moore, without disclosing his consultancy with the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). In its Take 5 column, subtitled 'five questions. five answers", five questions were softballed to Moore. "How do you go from being a founder of Greenpeace, which is adamantly opposed to nuclear energy, to a proponent of nuclear energy?," was one. Moore said that "we got a lot of things right in the early years: stop the bombs, save the whales, stop toxic waste, but we made a mistake (on) nuclear power." Moore could have mentioned that he is now a consultant to the NEI, which was created by the PR firm Hill & Knowlton, but didn't.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is the latest news outlet to fail to disclose the fact that Patrick Moore, a former Greenpeace activist turned PR consultant, is on the nuclear industry payroll. A recent 690-word opinion column by Moore, titled "Old foes welcome clean fuel," promotes nuclear power as a "solution" to global warming. At the foot of the column, the biographical note states that Moore "co-chairs the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CASEnergy), which promotes the economic and environmental benefits of nuclear power as part of a green energy economy." What it doesn't state is that CASEnergy is a front group created by Hill & Knowlton for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the peak lobby group for the U.S. nuclear industry. Just over three years ago, shortly after Moore's "coalition" was launched, Hill and Knowlton's Frank Mankiewicz insisted in a letter to the Columbia Journalism Review that Moore “has been completely transparent about funding sources and relationships with the Nuclear Energy Institute and the public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton."

Former Greenpeace activist turned industry PR consultant, Patrick Moore, regularly appears as an opinion columnist or interviewee in news outlets around the world. Frequently these columns and stories don't disclose that the group Moore co-chairs, the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition (CSEC), is a front group for the Nuclear Energy Institute. In an opinion column for the Oregon-based Statesman-Journal, Moore writes that "now may be the right time for this state to consider putting nuclear energy back to work on behalf of clean air and economic growth. I understand Oregon's reservations. I once had them, too. But after four decades as an active environmentalist, studying the facts, my views have evolved — and I'm not alone." The biographical note at the end of Moore's column -- as has been noted before -- omits any indication that Moore is a consultant for the U.S. nuclear industry's lobby group. Instead, the note describes the CSEC as a "grassroots coalition which promotes the economic and environmental benefits of nuclear power as part of a green energy economy."

Once again Patrick Moore, a former Greenpeace activist, has been promoting nuclear power as a solution to global warming without disclosing that he is a consultant to the Nuclear Energy Institute's front group, the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition. In a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star, Moore railed against the ability of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind to replace "existing nuclear and coal-fired" power stations. "The fact of the matter is these renewables are intermittent power sources that can supplement (but not supplant) 'always on' baseload power sources such as nuclear energy," he wrote. However, the Financial Times reported that France, which relies on nuclear power for approximately 80 percent of its electricity, "is being forced to import electricity from Britain to cope with a summer heatwave that has helped to put a third of its nuclear power stations out of action."

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) officially launched on July 1, with 108 member countries. IRENA is meant "to make renewable energy more accessible to every country in the world. ... But supporters worry that IRENA could be undermined by countries that are trying to promote nuclear power as a solution to climate change and dwindling oil reserves." At IRENA's inaugural conference, the France - United Arab Emirates alliance favoring nuclear power appears to have prevailed. Abu Dhabi was chosen as the site for IRENA's headquarters, and French official Helene Pelosse was named IRENA's director general. France, a major exporter of nuclear power technology and expertise, advocates for "low-carbon technology" that many interpret to include nuclear power, along with solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy. Former World Bank energy officer Dr. Eric Martinot asked, "Are the original goals of IRENA being co-opted so that renewables get pushed aside by a nuclear agenda?" In an interview, Pelosse said no. "The idea that IRENA would be tainted by nuclear interests is simply wrong," she told the Worldwatch Institute. "There already is an international organization in charge of nuclear energy."

The energy company Entergy has hired yet another public relations firm to promote its Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. Entergy's new firm is the Breaux Lott Leadership Group, which will "deal with nuclear issues as the license of its Indian Point facility ... is up for renewal." The firm's leadership, former U.S. Senators John Breaux and Trent Lott, will work on the Entergy account, along with their sons. Previously, Entergy retained the major firm Burson-Marsteller, to work on "Indian Point issues" and "the overall image of the company." Last year, Entergy hired the Potomac Communications Group to promote its "Independent Safety Evaluation" panel for the Indian Point plant. "A round of raucous public hearings is expected" as part of Indian Point's license renewal application, reports O'Dwyer's.

An executive with the French government-owned energy company EDF "has been charged on suspicion of spying on the environmental group Greenpeace." The executive, "who previously worked as a police commander, is being investigated for conspiring to hack into Greenpeace France's computer system." Under investigation is whether EDF, "the world's biggest nuclear-reactor operator, hired a private detective agency run by a former member of the French secret services to illegally spy on environmentalists and infiltrate their ranks." EDF confirmed that it hired the firm, Kargus Consultants, but denies "ordering the use of any illegal spying methods." A Kargus employee admitted that he hacked into the computer system used by Greenpeace France's campaigns director in 2006. Greenpeace thinks the spying "could have been related to their campaign to block EDF's construction of a vast, new generation nuclear reactor in Flamanville" in northern France. Greenpeace France is tightening office security and saying the incident "shows just how frightened the nuclear industry is of transparency and a democratic debate." EDF recently bought British Energy and "nearly half of U.S. group Constellation Energy's nuclear power business ... in order to build power plants in Britain and the United States," according to Reuters.