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| The argument for Nuclear |
  | Do you think Nuclear Power is a good idea?
Nuclear energy is considered by some to be a viable alternative to the current mainstream methods of producing power. There's been chatter on the net lately about how more thought should be given to using nuclear power plants to replace coal fired plants. But I think that is a terrible idea, and I'll explain why. Please read on and leave a comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
The construction of a nuclear power plant takes about 6 to 8 years roughly, and it doesn't run at full capacity for nearly 2 years thereafter as the engineers fine tune the equipment. Combine that with the time it takes for land acquisition, permitting, contractor bidding and all else, and the whole process can take about 10-12 years. The ore which the uranium is derived from must also be mined, refined, manufactured and shipped. The mining process leaves the land scarred. After about 3 years of use, once the atomic fuel rods are spent, they're stored for 5 to 25 plus years as they cool to a manageable temperature where they're either discarded (moved to long term storage) or refined again and reused.
With the current growth rate of the human population, for every society to be able to rely on nuclear power alone, we will need to build over 5,000 nuclear power plants in the next 50 years. At that rate of consumption, the planet will run out of ore containing uranium-238 in 70 to 80 years. Because of new technologies, and a shortage of fuel, all of those nuclear facilities will be obsolete by the year 2100 to 2130 at the very latest. That means the effort to build all those nuclear plants, and mine all of that ore will produce a mere 150 years of power, if we're lucky. There are other types of nuclear power plants that use different processes and variety of fuels which some say there is enough of to last for millions of years. But, we'll still need to mine it, destroying vast portions of the planet, and there will still be radioactive waste that will need to sit around for 1000's of years.
Here are just a few of the safety concerns. Imagine how difficult it will be to maintain a vigilant guard over 5000 nuclear facilities. We can expect that terrorism and other types of war-mongering aren't going to go away any time soon. Think how many attempts will be made to reek havoc on a city by destroying it's local power plant(s). Huge explosions won't occur, the engineers will address that issue. But, a community can be terrorized by having it's power taken away, and if we rely on one structure for all of our power, this scenario is bound to happen.
Terrorism isn't the only concern. Besides the chance for nuclear fuel to be stolen during shipping; what about the radioactive waste, the irradiated water, and the chance for accidental contamination? What about the destroyed landscapes, and the aftermath of the mining process? It seems that pro-nuclear advocates don't consider the entire cost of a nuclear-power-dependent society. It's not worth it, if you ask me. Compared to coal, nuclear may look like a good idea on paper, but the costs and the risks are just too great.
Now imagine how hard it would be for terrorists to cut off our power if everyone of us contributed in a grid and/or made our own. The sun isn't going to run out of fuel for millions of years. We have all the power we need for an entire year beamed at us every single day. If we could get our governments to invest into solar energy research, we could develop new technologies that are efficient and economically and ecologically sound. Too much time has already been spent on shortsightedness. We need to bide our time, and concentrate on developing a sustainable future that involves the consideration of every factor, no matter how far off or insignificant it may seem.
Envision a future where every roof is covered with solar panels, every shipping truck is powered by its own solar-array lined trailer, every bit of energy we use comes from the most abundant energy source we'll ever know, the Sun. This is an achievable goal, and you can help aid this movement if you care to. Join this company, and use this Green Server to host your website if you have one. And by all means, get others to read this blog. There will be many more articles to come that further explain the importance of our switching to solar energy and green living.
Thanks for reading, I hope this finds you well.
Take care,
Scott
WhyGreenEnergy
| | Posted: 10/3/2007 at 06:36 | Read 347 times | 7 comments | Leave Comment |
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