From: Christian Weisgerber (naddy@mips.inka.de)
Date: Sun Mar 24 2002 - 08:43:24 MST
Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury@aeiveos.com> wrote:
> I thought this article:
> http://www.spacedaily.com/news/nuclear-civil-02k.html
> fairly enlightening.
> Are the folks over there *crazy*?
Yes.
We've had that coming for a long time. I'd have to check when the
last German nuclear power plant has been built, but I think there
are no later designs than from the 1970s around.
> From the Swedish perspective I think it is really unrealistic.
> How do they think the are going to produce the necessary
> energy?
It's unrealistic from the German perspective, too. The Green
movement wants to replace it with "alternative", pardon, "renewable"
energy sources (wind, hydro, solar, none of which is available on
a large scale in Germany) or, since this won't work, just curb power
consumption.
One of the more hilarious aspects is that now, as wind turbines are
increasingly deployed, the Greens have started fighting those too,
because of noise, countryside aesthetics, etc. They've been against
hydro in Austria as well.
> So it has to be either a perspective that nuclear power
> is unsafe, or a waste disposal issue that radioactive
> isotopes cannot be transformed into nonradioactive variants.
I think a more accurate representation of popular opinion is that
nuclear power is *evil*. This has been beyond rational discussion
since the late '80s. Nuclear power means Chernobyl and nukes.
Anybody advocating nuclear power must clearly be in bed with the
evil power companies. Even technical people will casually drop
comments about the "inherent uncontrolability of nuclear power".
I could proclaim that the sky is falling, but I'm sure we'll muddle
through. We'll just burn a bit more fossil fuels, and we'll buy
power from abroad. Who needs power plants anyway? I get my power
from the wall jack.
Public opinion is fickle. (Just watch the wild pro/contra swings
throughout the EU surrounding the introduction of the euro.) A few
blackouts--maybe strategically placed during the broadcasts of the
Soccer World Cup this summer--would go a long way towards making
nuclear power popular again. The way things are, we'll have to
wait until some pain is felt.
I'm confident that if things get tight, nuclear power will be
resurrected. It will be a mild annoyance that we won't have any
recent designs or know-how by then.
-- Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de
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