A Treehugging Nuclear Option...

Uncle Treehugger, aka John Laumer, has new marching orders posted: sing the praises of nuclear energy as a solution to climate change! Now, you may be scratching your head, but, no, the folks at Treehugger haven't been bought out by the nuclear energy industry. Rather, Laumer suggests a "bait-and-switch": use nukes to get attention on the issue of climate change, knowing:

...it takes decades to design, test, prototype, license, and commercially develop any new nuclear technology. They've got water shortage issues to overcome for the cooling, and Mega-Mansion filled suburbs have crept around many of the sites they'd have their eyes on. New reactors designs are out there, but none licensed for commercial use. Nuclear generators are not competitive without direct government support, in a time of accelerating budget deficits.

Conversely, a privately capitalized wind farm can go up in about a year once the grid is upgraded to take the power and permits issued.

It's an interesting strategy, no doubt, but it relies on people coming to their senses at some point. Call me cynical, but after recent Congressional votes for drilling in ANWR and further subsidizing fossil fuels, I'm a little hesitant about even appearing to support anything that the right-wing loony brigade might like...

Technorati tags: climate change, nuclear power

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