Nuclear? No thanks!

I fail to understand the progressives' beef with nuclear power. I'm a card carrying lefty and to me nuclear power presents the most sensible alternative to fossil fuels. You couldn't ask for a better safer cleaner source of energy. As much as I'd like to see us running on solar or wind or biomass, the truth is that these alternatives can't even begin to address our energy needs. Nuclear power can. Ask yourself why this is a taboo subject politically, why do Dems and Repubs and Indys alike unite against it? The answer is fear, a fear that was instilled in us by Cold War mongering and distrust. Yes, nuclear technology is dangerous and it takes vigilance to control the material, but it IS possible and completely worth it to continue doing so. Much of the rest of the world is moving in this direction and working through the logistics. France gets 75% of their power from nuclear energy... China, Japan, Russia, India, and much of the middle east are all building dozens of new plants to begin their slow and painful transition from oil. If we continue to cower in fear based only on the distrust of our fellow man, our country has no proseperous future. Wake up!

Frankly I am not sure whether nuclear power is the right choice for our energy requirements. I do know that we are careless and use excessive amounts of energy and that concentrating on reducing our energy consumption is more pro-active than extending the facility to consume ever increasing quantities, resulting in increased carbon emmissions and increased global warming. Instinctively I would support a policy that aims to reduce our energy consumption whilst increasing the use of natural power sources (solar, wind, geothermal etc). This is not radical, it is common sense. Therefore I am instinctively against nuclear power and the fact that it is essentially dirty energy that provides a greedy society with short term solutions to long term problems. I am not living in fear of some throw back to the cold war (as the previous comment suggests I might be), but judging the information that I have to the best of my knowledge and trying to make informed decisions about ethical living standards.

I would also like to add that I went to complete the anti trident petition which was given as a link to the original article. I was pretty upset to find that it is obligatory to make a donation to what appears to be an American company (I petitions or something)... What is this all about?? Obviously I chose not to sign the petition!!!

I've just signed the petition and at the end it says 'your signature is registered' and then askes you for a donation, but I checked and mine was already on there without donating...

Jared, us "progressives" stand against nuclear power because it is not clean or safe, and is not a solution to global warming as most the uranium left in the world is low grade and takes vast quantities of fossil fuels to prepare.

Nuclear power is a greenwash, and a way for private companies to get hold of tax-payers money.

There is an exhibition on in the Dukes Gallery, Lancaster which describes the human rights abuses uranium mining inflicts on indigenous peoples. The stories are directly from people affected and include environmental, social and physical injustices. James Lovelock is part of the coercion inisting that Navajos are misguided ( he uses stronger language) for not wanting further uranium mining on their land. As the recent floods have shown drinking water is the most precious commodity not electricity and nuclear power is the most water hungry source of energy there ( not counting uranium mining and milling) is using hundreds of millions of gallons of water a year from pure water sources such as Wastwater in Cumbria.

Exhibition runs until August 23rd

Just a note to Marianne about nuclear power's use of water.

A nuclear power plant uses water from a river, lake or the sea as a coolant. The water goes in and comes out just a few degrees warmer. It's still water and it doesn't get used up. It also doesn't get affected by any of the radioactive nasties inside.

Also, any thermal (gas, coal, biomass) plant would use the same amount of water. Nuclear's no 'worse' than the others.