Nuclear power is a bad idea. It's a bad idea for the same reason procrastination is a bad idea. Don't get me wrong, I love to procrastinate. I consider myself a chronic procrastinator (I have put off writing this blog post for two weeks).
At first glance, nuclear power seems like a great idea. You take some matter and turn it into clean, abundant energy. Problem solved. Oh, except that as a biproduct, we are left with extremely dangerous radioactive material that would stay radioactive for tens of thousands of years. What's more, we have no way to get rid of this stuff safely, except to bury it in the ground and hope that eventually we will figure out what to do with it before it causes any harm.
This reminded me of a funny quote about procrastination: Hard work pays off later, procrastination pays off now.
To be honest, this is not all that different from the type of mindset that I'm picking up from this nuclear power idea. Basically, the payoff of cheap energy is immediate, and the consequences are put off until later.
In addition, the argument is made that nuclear energy does not contribute to global warming, which makes it a good thing. On the one hand, if the decision came down only between facing a global warming apocolypse in the near future, or a mass nuclear waste spillage cenario tens of thousands of years in the future, I would choose the latter. The reality of it is, however, that it is not a black-and-white choice between two sources of energy. There are many shades of gray, as we are discovering with our "go green" fad and our frantic search for an alternative energy source. Hydrogen fuel is a good idea, except that as abundant as water is, it is still not a renewable resource. The best option in my opinion would be solar energy. It may as well be renewable; once the sun is burned out, though most likely billions of years after humans have seen the last of this planet, life here would be screwed anyways.
Got a little off topic there. In short, nuclear power is like procrastination. Though we would not have to deal with it in our lifetime, eventually somebody would. That is what we are counting on by supporting nuclear power, that eventually, somebody would come up with a way of dealing with this. But what if nobody did? Are we really willing to play dice with the fate of our race?
Well that was pretty unorganized, as usual. Got to stop writing these so late at night...
4 comments:
Wow! I really agreee with what you had wrote. I like the idea of Solar and wind power as well. I tend to procrastinate as well and that is what nuclear power is. Procrastination to the Nth degree. Altough, I tend to respect McCain for his unwavering support of it. Nuclear power is good in the short term. Or is it? I think that it is best we sustain our short term survival rather than long term sustainability. too many other practices are unsustainable. We are on the highway to extinction anyway. Russia could invade the Ukraine and their could be miscalculation. Or Tb could mutate and we would all die as well. Or the martians will come. Regardless it is necessary that we use nuclear power.
I agree with you about the problems that exist with disposing nuclear waste. However, I believe nuclear power can still be used as an energy supply, only with other forms of energy as well like windmills, hamsters, etc.
Is procrastination really such a bad idea? It is the method of choice for millions of people. On the other hand, hard work is used by so few people.
Here's the problem. The world won't ever rely on part-time energy sources. If people don't get the electricity they need from nuclear energy they'll take it from fossil fuels, mainly coal.
Coal wastes are causing harm on a massive scale, while nuclear-energy wastes have never harmed anyone or anything. It's because nuclear-energy wastes are produced in quantities that are so small they can easily be isolated from the environment.
Post a Comment