More Nuclear Power = Dumb Idea

Barry, My Liege :

Recently four environmental scientists suggested that we expand nuclear power as a means to reduce global warming while maintaining cheap power.

You can read CNN about it here : http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/03/world/nuclear-energy-climate-change-scientists/

Here's why it is an incredibly dumb idea : the economic concept of external costs.

In economics, external costs refer to costs of a product or action which are not paid by the user of the product or action. So, if there are externalized costs, the rest of us pay.

And, my Liege, the externalized costs of nuclear power are the WHOLE PLANET!

We know that we cannot manage nuclear power without harming our environment irreparably.

Fukushima. Chernobyl. Three Mile Island.

Expanding nuclear power will multiply these events.

And, we have not yet managed to dispose of the waste products from other nuclear plants.

The total cost to our species of nuclear power is beyond calculation. It is a global killer.

When we add to that explosive mix the idea that the people running the plants are trying to make a PROFIT by selling the electricity and paying NONE of the environmental costs, it becomes nightmarish.

We simply have to recognize that cheap power is gone until and unless we ramp up renewable power sources.

It is time to bite the bullet.

Your faithful servant,