"after talking to him for some time I am more convinced then ever that we ought to GO NUKE all the way for our power"
Fine by me... just END THE TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES for the industry *first*, and let the Free Markets determine which energy technologies get used.
The Free Market will probably result in a much higher safety level for nuclear power then the government has....
(You know, we've been subsidizing the industry for over 50 years now... when are they going to be able to stand on their own two feet without the taxpayer's HELP? The Price Anderson Act GUARANTEES free catastrophe insurance for the industry --- with the TAXPAYER'S on the hook for potentially HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS or more in potential damages from even a single meltdown. [In the famous words of the Energy Department and the EPA --- commenting about the potential costs from a worst case Three Mile Island full meltdown: "imagine the economic loss of an area the size of Pennsylvania for 50,000 years or so..." what would THAT cost? The TAXPAYERS have subsidized the cost of fuel enrichment, plant construction [by picking up MOST of the tab for the incredibly EXPENSIVE tear-down and perminent disposal of the ratioactive structure of nuclear power plants when they reach the end of their useful life... usually estimated at 30 - 50 years, this has NEVER YET HAPPENED, never yet been paid for, so we have no realistic idea of how expensive it will be], 'perminent disposal' of the high-level radioactive waste [from both irradiated structures and spent fuel] is also a TAXPAYER-PAID expense... and already many BILLIONS more expensive then was originally estimated for the public.)
I'm all for nuclear power (though I believe that safer, cleaner, more economic *fusion* power sources will eventually totally replace all of our old-fashioned and expensive and risky fission power plants)... but I believe that ALL energy technologies must be able to stand on their own two feet in a free market --- and right now, fission power plants are just a huge taxpayer-paid mess of subsidies.
Possibly when oil eventually reaches $100 - $150 a barrel (and coal & natural gas concomittantly more expensive, too) then nuclear fission *might* be able to stand without SUBSIDIES.
Right now though, all they are looking for is more WELFARE, more handouts, more shifting of all risks to the public.
(Gee... don't you think that coal producers or oil producers or solar would like for the TAXPAYERS to provide them with FREE INSURANCE, subsidized INPUTS, and FREE DISPOSAL of all their toxic wastes????? Sure they would.) |
