Global Warming Threat Prompts Kerry to Stop Opposing Nuclear Power in US

Addressing the threat challenge of climate change will require greater use of nuclear power plants in addition to wind and solar energy sources, US Secretary of State John Kerry told guests at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In backing greater use of nuclear energy, Kerry recalled his own opposition to nuclear power during the first Earth Day in 1970.

"We need to rely more obviously on solar and wind; those are givens today," Kerry said. "But given this challenge we face today and given the progress of fourth general nuclear go for it. No other alternatives. Zero emissions."

Kerry cited concentrations of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, in a vial of air that he received during a recent trip to Antarctic, as already reaching a tipping point, beyond which damage to the Earth’s ecosystem will be irreversible.

US President-elect Donald Trump and many Republicans in the US Congress have expressed skepticism about mainstream climate science that warns of catastrophic consequences of climate change, such as rising sea levels that will leave much of the Earth’s coastal areas under water.