Musk Tags Green Advocates As 'Insane' For Seeking Shutdown Of Nuke Plants

Elon Musk said some environmentalists were "anti-human" for advocating the shutting down of nuclear power plants, after saying such moves were "insane" for national security, and critics told him bluntly that “it takes one to know one,” Ryan Hogg reported for Business Insider.

Photo Insert: The Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted Friday about nuclear energy and thundered: "Countries should be increasing nuclear power generation! It is insane from a national security standpoint & bad for the environment to shut them down."

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO tweeted Friday about nuclear energy and thundered: "Countries should be increasing nuclear power generation! It is insane from a national security standpoint & bad for the environment to shut them down."

Musk added that “some are, indeed, anti-human.”

Nuclear energy is an unpopular source of renewable energy given concerns about its safety, linked to high-profile disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

A report to US Congress last year showed the country had permanently closed 12 nuclear reactors since 2012. Data from IAEA suggests 203 reactors have been shut down, amounting to 98,000 megawatts.

But in addition to warning against population collapse, which he said this week is a bigger threat to humanity than global warming, Musk has been a vocal proponent of nuclear energy as a renewable energy source, particularly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices skyrocketing.

In a March interview with Insider, Musk said: "I want to be super clear. You should not only not shut down the nuclear power plants, but you should also reopen the ones that have already shut down. Those are the fastest to produce energy. It is crazy to shut down nuclear power plants now, especially if you are in a place where there are no natural disasters."

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