19th March 2007, 11:03 PM
Some areas can use wind power and solar power for small things works, but both are just far too inefficient to do the job. After going nuclear for a while, sure let's keep researching other forms of energy, and if something else does a better job, we can switch to that, but for the mean time we need something to replace fossil fuels and we already have a solution that fits the bill. Nuclear power? Stick it right in my back yard! A lot of people protest, and to hear all the propaganda, I can understand why. I mean Captain Planet had a villian named "Duke Nukem" right in there and the whole series was about villians that actually WANTED to actively destroy the planet (which is unrealistic, as it's corporate indifference that destroys it, not a wanton Kefka-esque desire to destroy the planet).
They go on with silly displays like a glass of milk from the udder of some goat that lived by a nuclear plant saying "would YOU drink THIS?" and I would have to say "well yes, because the amount of radiation detected near a plant is no greater than that given off by someone sleeping next to you". Shock value like that isn't science. And, when you point out that nuclear plants don't, in fact, destroy the life around them, they always pull out the "they are all in on it" conspiracy trump card.
It's sad really. They mean well, and really using old technology, or worse badly funded and poorly regulated plants like chernobyl is something we can all say we are against. But, one with current technology with the same extremely high safety standards of operation that current nuclear power plants use, that'll solve a lot of our problem. You want a solution to the global warming issue? We've got a big step, but unfortunatly misinformation is holding it back... This isn't the only tech that some misguided emotional stuff is holding back these days of course. I liken it to stem cell research.
They go on with silly displays like a glass of milk from the udder of some goat that lived by a nuclear plant saying "would YOU drink THIS?" and I would have to say "well yes, because the amount of radiation detected near a plant is no greater than that given off by someone sleeping next to you". Shock value like that isn't science. And, when you point out that nuclear plants don't, in fact, destroy the life around them, they always pull out the "they are all in on it" conspiracy trump card.
It's sad really. They mean well, and really using old technology, or worse badly funded and poorly regulated plants like chernobyl is something we can all say we are against. But, one with current technology with the same extremely high safety standards of operation that current nuclear power plants use, that'll solve a lot of our problem. You want a solution to the global warming issue? We've got a big step, but unfortunatly misinformation is holding it back... This isn't the only tech that some misguided emotional stuff is holding back these days of course. I liken it to stem cell research.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)