Editorials

NUCLEAR POWER

19/03/05 14:46 Filed in: My Ideas
NUCLEAR
 The World needs a new form of energy, and fast.

This week President Bush has approved the oil mining of the Alaskan Wilderness.

The answer is probably going to be nuclear, but before we can embrace it a few things need to be done.

During the hot European summer (2003) over 11,000 people died from heatstroke in Paris. The French Leader said the figure was 3,000, but he was laughed-at by the head of the Funeral Director's Association who said, "Maybe .. but we used an extra 11,000 coffins during the month!”

At the same time the power demand increased. Problem is, the nuclear plants are situated on the rivers and there do not appear to be cooling ponds from the heated water, the by-product from nuclear plants; (we were flying over them every day for nine months and a cooling pond is something you can't really hide).

On the hot days, when demand was greatest, the river temperature was already increased. The heated water, returning to the river, reached the critical maximum temperature above which fish die. The only way to stop the high temperature water is to shut down the plant.

Apparently, they just applied-for and received dispensations to exceed the water temperature in order to keep the supply of electricity flowing.

And millions of fish died.

We must get smarter, and tougher.

By committing to a using nuclear as the long term major source of world energy we should demand, before we start, that ALL environmental concerns are fixed, including the biggest problem of dealing-with spent fuel rods.

But it’s no use solving a fuel rod issue if, every time there’s a hot day, mismanagement of old, outdated plants causes localized environmental disasters.

March 19th 2005

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