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daveMN

(25 posts)
14. Whoa.
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 02:24 AM
Apr 2013

I wish I had time to review all that right now. If nothing else, I try to keep an open mind. I'll try to get around to it soon. Still, for now, I stick by my position - we should at least maintain the current proportion of generation from nuclear, as concerns about safety are overblown. (What we learned from Fukushima, I guess, is that they shouldn't put the emergency backup generators in a place where they could be flooded by a tsunami. If that hadn't been the case, nothing probably would have happened.) The transition to renewables isn't going to happen in a day. If nuclear is "crowding out" renewables, then giant centralized fossil fuel plants must also be doing that to an even greater extent. It's more a question of public policy, and also of technology. Currently, renewables can't provide baseload power. It will take a massive infastructure investment to change that. An investment, which, by the way, will also cause GHG emissions. Whichever way you figure it, we are creating a carbon "debt" that future generations will have to "pay off." Continuing to use nuclear for now will reduce that amount of CO2 we put up there during this transition.

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»For all you 'Crazy' anti-...»Reply #14