Going Nuclear – A Green Makes the Case

In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That’s the conviction that inspired Greenpeace’s first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.

Now THIS is an interesting development: “green” nuclear power advocacy. It seems to the Chief that somebody got mugged by reality! Perhaps the moonbats are NOT all totally bereft of reason after all. This gives one hope that this is indeed the case!

Interesting also, that this appears in the WaPo – not exactly known as a bastion of the VRWC!

Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions — or nearly 10 percent of global emissions — of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely.

By Jove, I think he’s got it! He goes on:

Wind and solar power have their place, but because they are intermittent and unpredictable they simply can’t replace big baseload plants such as coal, nuclear and hydroelectric. Natural gas, a fossil fuel, is too expensive already, and its price is too volatile to risk building big baseload plants. Given that hydroelectric resources are built pretty much to capacity, nuclear is, by elimination, the only viable substitute for coal. It’s that simple.

Yep, it really is.

He does go on to take notice of the leading objectins to nuclear power, and generally does a pretty good job of demolishing them. Check out the piece to see the rest. It makes great ammo to use on moonbat greenies who have not yet started to actively THINK about the issue (as opposed to just going by thier FEELINGS).

H/T to an e-mail from Finster at Top of Cool