It's Time To Rethink The CW On Nuclear Power

baskil

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Saturday January 12, 2008 · 11:22 AM PST

2008/01/12 · 11:22

In order to combat global warming, provide our future energy needs in a sustainable way, reduce respiratory and heart diseases, and gain energy independence simultaneously, the United States must adopt nuclear power as a primary part of an energy strategy including wind, solar, hydroelectric, and biomass while eliminating fossil fuel sources such as coal and natural gas. The times of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island have passed. Redundant and modular reactor designs have taken the majority of the human effort out of maintenance and control. Waste management solutions such as pyroprocessing have reduced overall waste by a factor of over 100. Dry cask storage allows for safe, on-site storage of waste until a national solution is found. New reactor designs such as PBMR and IRIS are cost competitive with wind. The benefits of this shift would affect all social classes over many years, and the shift from energy consumer to energy exporter would give us an edge in the world energy markets.

It's time that environmentally conscious progressives reexamine the conventional wisdom on nuclear power.

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