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US Nuclear Power Industry Poised For a Comeback
ThousandStars sends us to The Wall Street Journal for a report that momentum for nuclear energy is waxing in the US. "For the first time in decades, popular opinion is on the industry's side. A majority of Americans thinks nuclear power, which emits virtually no carbon dioxide, is a safe and effective way to battle climate change, according to recent polls. At the same time, legislators are showing renewed interest in nuclear as they hunt for ways to slash greenhouse-gas emissions. The industry is seizing this chance to move out of the shadow of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl and show that it has solved the three big problems that have long dogged it: cost, safety and waste."
Nuclear power is inefficient. The plants cost hundreds of millions. The variable costs may be low once they are set up, but the initial fixed costs are high, and there is still no good solution for what to do with the toxic waste they produce. How many of you pro-nuke posters would be willing to have a nuclear plant within 20 miles of were you live? How many would be willing to have the toxic waste stored on-site of the plant? I thought so.
After a 20-year struggle to shut down the Trojan nuclear power plant here in the Northwest, which never produced electricity and yet we are still paying for, it will be a cold day on the Sun before people allow a nuclear plant in Oregon or Washington.
Why do we periodically hear about appeals for more nuclear power? Couldn't be because General Electric and other large multinationals sell the technology.
Why don't we hear more about small-scale solar power? Could it be because you sell the consumer a solar panel once and then you get no more money out of him until he replaces it in 20 or 30 years? No monthly check to the utility. The utility doesn't buy hydrocarbons from the oil and gas companies. We all know how much companies love the subscription model.
If corporations could find a way to put a meter between the Sun and the consumer and charge us per-lumen then you'd see massive investment in solar power research in this country. Until then, they'll continue to push nuclear.
Okay now hands up, how many of you pro-nuke posters are Astro-turfers being paid to post in favor of it? I thought so.