My Belated Nuclear Power Post

I promised a while back, when blogging about electric cars, that I was going to post about why I support nuclear power. I didn't want to put too semi-conservative sounding posts too close together, so I waited until now.

Anyway, here it is.

It's the cleanest energy out there, outside of solar and wind. Much, much cleaner and more efficient than coal, natural gas, and other fossil fuels, which is what it would primarily replace. In fact, given the downside of those power sources, I think it's downright irresponsible that we don't use nuclear energy more.

On top of that, it's one of the cheapest energy sources around.

Basically, I think most of the liberal objection to nuclear power comes down to the word "nuclear." It's a kneejerk reaction. The truth is, there is zero chance of a nuclear reactor blowing up like a nuclear bomb.

Sure, there was Chernobyl, a crappy Russian plant that wasn't up to U.S. standards. And sure, we had Three Mile Island in the U.S., where no one, I repeat, NO ONE was killed or injured. But don't take my word for it, Here's what nuclear scientist Edward Teller wrote in 1979. Yeah, the jab at Jane Fonda is pretty mean spirited, but the rest is spot on.



There are problems with nuclear waste disposal, I won't deny that. But these are EXTREMELY minimal compared to the problems caused by fossil fuels. And yes, we have to protect the plants from terrorists, but I think we're up to the task, and like Teller says, it's much easier than guarding airplanes. So, unless we are going to run our country on wind and solar, something that, right now, is impratical, nuclear should be a pretty big part of our energy supply.