19th March 2007, 10:27 PM
And we've had it for a while. Nuclear power!
We have lots of technology to deal with the waste now that we didn't have before, including, for example, recycling the waste material into usable fuel again and transmuting the material into something safe. 3 mile island was safely contained. Chernobyl used methods no longer in use. Leaks aren't really a concern any more. I personally would have no problem with having one in my backyard, as they are run safely and more cleanly than coal plants. Further, the fuel is relatively plentiful and doesn't polute.
Why aren't we using nuclear power to solve our energy and polution problem? I mean it's not perfect, there's the cost of building it and it won't solve the problem of vehicle fuel needs, but it's a major step.
Fact is, there's environmentalism guided by science, and environmentalism guided by some love of the "earth mother" fueled by nothing but emotion. This whole problem with nuclear energy, at this point, can be relegated to hairy hippies who don't know what they are talking about.
We have lots of technology to deal with the waste now that we didn't have before, including, for example, recycling the waste material into usable fuel again and transmuting the material into something safe. 3 mile island was safely contained. Chernobyl used methods no longer in use. Leaks aren't really a concern any more. I personally would have no problem with having one in my backyard, as they are run safely and more cleanly than coal plants. Further, the fuel is relatively plentiful and doesn't polute.
Why aren't we using nuclear power to solve our energy and polution problem? I mean it's not perfect, there's the cost of building it and it won't solve the problem of vehicle fuel needs, but it's a major step.
Fact is, there's environmentalism guided by science, and environmentalism guided by some love of the "earth mother" fueled by nothing but emotion. This whole problem with nuclear energy, at this point, can be relegated to hairy hippies who don't know what they are talking about.
"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)