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BITTER MEDICINE FOR GLOBAL WARMING
(Summary of my article from Turkish national newspaper Radikal 1/1/07)
In a world hungry for energy, global warming worries brought up nuclear power generation back into the agenda. Considering the monetary and environmental costs and risks of nuclear energy, this approach should be seen as in the proverb: "desperate diseases must have desperate remedies."
Scientific community agrees, if not with a consensus, that green house gas (GHG) emissions from fossil-fuel use are changing the climate. Hard days are in forecast for humanity; regional disasters seem inevitable. Yet, as countries with large populations become more developed, their energy needs soar. As an example, China must add to its electric generation capacity as much as England's total grid, every year. However if nuclear energy is considered as an alternative, its real costs and risks must be evaluated. Is it really clean? Are we really short of other alternatives? Why is it not considered sustainable?
Nuclear energy production has no greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, its real monetary costs and environmental risks far exceed other alternatives. Nuclear energy is claimed to produce cheaper electricity than wind and solar, only because some major costs are excluded. For instance, building a disposal site is more expensive than building several power plants. But it is left to the states, to the public, to take care.
For nuclear waste, there is no harmless disposal method, nor a permanent disposal site exists in the world. In the USA, after decades of strife and millions of dollars spent since the 1970's, Nevada and the states in waste transport routes are still fighting against the world's only planned disposal site built 300 meters under the Yucca Mountain in the middle of the desert. People of Nevada, rightfully, reject a volcano nearby.
Considering the risks of nuclear accidents, the world is not big enough. In a small accident in 1999 when workers put too much uranium in a bag (that exceeded the critical mass) in Tokai, Japan, in California at the other side of the ocean San Ofre power station measured the highest beta radiation level since the Chernobyl accident. Nations involved in nuclear arms race or suffered consequences of power plant accidents don't want it in their lives anymore. Western world dropped it from its list of alternatives with the major exception of France who has no coal, oil, or natural gas resources.
Nuclear energy may be accepted as a sustainable alternative in the future only if a safe disposal method is developed. On the other hand with new incentives, renewable technologies are becoming more efficient and cheaper. But the cheapest method of having excess power is to increase efficiency, use incentives to distribute peak demand, and reduce losses.
Clean, fusion energy is promising, but its use in power generation is still decades away. So, there is no magical cure. We all have responsibility to use energy efficiently with minimal waste, and generate our own energy right on the top of our roofs.
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