Tuesday October 17, 2006

A Second Look at Nuclear Power

issues.org :

Renewable energy production has been constrained by physical limitations that have resulted in consistently high costs, because the energy that renewable energy technologies collect is both diffuse and intermittent. The one resource that might have made a difference is nuclear power. Many Americans remain concerned about questions of safety and the disposal of nuclear waste, as well as nuclear proliferation and economic viability. The real advantage of nuclear energy is its potency. One pound of uranium contains the energy equivalent of roughly one million pounds of coal. Such potency means that nuclear power's energy potential is vast. It also means that nuclear's environmental impact is inherently low.

A growing number of enlightened environmental leaders are beginning to appreciate the role that nuclear power might play in achieving environmental sustainability. In a recent appeal to his fellow Greens, James Lovelock wrote: "We cannot continue drawing energy from fossil fuels, and there is no chance that renewables, wind, tide, and water power can provide enough energy and in time." Voicing his concerns about greenhouse gases, he concluded, "we have no time to experiment with visionary energy sources: civilization is in imminent danger and has to use nuclear - the one safe, available energy source - now or suffer the pain soon to be inflicted on our outraged planet." Patrick Moore, a founder of Greenpeace, subsequently followed suit, stating that "nuclear power is the only nongreenhouse-gas-emitting power source that can effectively replace fossil fuels and satisfy global demand."

It is now increasingly obvious that resources should not be given an environmental pass simply because they are renewable. Large hydro, for example, has come into disfavor because dams flood large areas of land, often eliminating communities or scenic beauty, and destroy fish habitat. Similarly, geothermal sites are often located in wilderness areas that environmentalists do not want to disturb. Even the current environmental favorite, wind, is being challenged because of bird kills, aesthetics, and land use.

Renewability per se should not be the issue; sufficiency for the foreseeable future with minimal environmental impact should be. Renewable sources are certainly one part of the answer, but nuclear power is another. Nuclear power is the one energy resource currently capable of displacing fossil fuels on a large scale as well as promoting other environmental goals: minimizing pressure on land use and the accompanying environmental problems of resource recovery, and avoiding atmospheric emissions that contribute to global climate change and health problems.

(2006-10-17 13:36:33 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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