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BITTER MEDICINE FOR GLOBAL WARMING
(Summary of my article from Turkish national newspaper Radikal 1/1/07)
Scientific community agrees (if not with a consensus) that human-induced global warming is underway. Hard days are in forecast for humanity; regional disasters within decades seem inevitable.
In a world hungry for energy, global warming worries brought up nuclear power generation that has no greenhouse gas emissions, back into the agenda. Considering the monetary and environmental costs and risks of nuclear energy, this should be seen as an indication of helplessness such as in the proverb: "desperate diseases must have desperate remedies."
Is nuclear energy really clean? Are we really short of other alternatives?
Real cost of nuclear energy is higher than any other source. But, in estimations, some costs are not included because they are left to governments to take care. For example: building a disposal site is more expensive than building a couple of power plants.
For nuclear waste, there is no harmless disposal method, nor a permanent disposal site in the world. After decades, people of Nevada and the states in waste transport routes in the US are still fighting against the world's only planned nuclear waste disposal site 300 meters under the Yucca Mountain in the middle of the desert. They reject creation of a volcano nearby.
When nuclear energy is declared clean, contamination created during mining and processing of nuclear fuel are ignored.
Considering the risks of nuclear accidents, the world is too small. Several years ago when workers put too much uranium in a bag (that exceeded the critical mass) in Tokai, Japan, this was measured in California San Ofre station as the highest beta measurement since Chernoble. Nations involved in the nuclear arms race or suffered consequences of accidents learned the hard way. They don't want it in their lives. After 20 years, Scottish farmers are still suffering loss due to radioactive fallout from Chernoble accident. Western world dropped it from its list of alternatives with the major exception of France that has no coal, oil, or natural gas.
Nuclear energy has no greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, its real monetary costs and environmental risks far exceed other alternatives. With new incentives, renewable technologies are becoming more efficient and cheaper. Of course, 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.
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