My cover story for New Humanist's first issue of 2009 is an argument in favour of nuclear power. Fortunately, it's a case that's already being won: Nuclear power is on the rise, particularly in India and China.The only sticking point for nuclear power, in the West at least, is the environmental lobby. For decades it has campaigned against nuclear on the grounds that it is dirty, dangerous and expensive... While these were legitimate criticisms once, today the technology has moved on in leaps and bounds, which means they simply don't hold water anymore.
Spurred by the looming threat of climate change, fortunately a few greens have seen the light and gone nuclear.
Read New Humanist (including a brilliant illustration by the legendary Martin Rowson) and come up with your own verdict. Feel free to leave comments here.
2 responses:
Angela:
I will read the article with pleasure, but in my humble opinion, Environmentalists have been given way too much credit for slowing the development of nuclear power. In general, they are rather powerless people who only capture attention when they take aim at a target that has other, significantly more powerful, enemies.
When it comes to nuclear power, the natural opposition is the fossil fuel industry. They are the ones that are in an enormously profitable industry - as long as they can control the balance between supply and demand in their favor. If a vast new supply of energy was allowed to freely enter the market, the value of their rather dirty commodities would fall like a rock.
The power of the Environmental Movement to slow nuclear power came from the financial and political support of fossil fuel interests (including the banks, the production companies, the fossil dependent countries and even the railroads and their unions.)
Thanks Rod, that's a very good point. I would love one day to look into just how much the fossil fuel industry has stifled the growth of competing sources of energy.
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