01/16/08: Global warming is caused by irrational opposition to nuclear power.

Wind power and solar power won't be able to do it. Their "energy density" is too low. Wind power makes up 0.3% of world energy supplies, and solar PV makes up only 0.04%. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:World_energy_usage_width_chart.svg

France gets 80% of its electricity from nuclear power. This gives France the cleanest air of any industrialized country, and the cheapest electricty in all of Europe. France keeps all of its nuclear waste at one location, where it has never hurt or killed anyone. Some countries in Europe use wind power and solar power, but when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining, they import their electricity from France. Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/06/60minutes/main2655782.shtml

You get far more radiation exposure from one dental X-ray or one airplane flight, then you would get from living next to a nuclear power plant for many years. Source: http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0403print.shtml

A coal power plant releases 100 times as much radiation as a nuclear power plant of similar wattage. Source: http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html

Worldwide, fossil fuels waste kills 4.6 million people every year. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4086809.stm

In the U.S., fossil fuel waste kills 20,000 U.S. citizens every year. Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05180/529969.stm

The earth has enough uranium to last us until the sun blows up in 5 billion years. Source: http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/cohen.html

Living next to a pressurized water nuclear reactor is safer than any other activity. Source: http://home.pacbell.net/sabsay/nuclear/chapter8.html

Whenever I hear anyone cite the Chernobyl disaster as a reason to oppose nuclear power, I know right away that this is a person who has not done much research on the subject.

The Chernobyl reactor was designed, built, owned, and operated by a totalitarian dictatorship that didn't have to answer to anyone.

The Chernobyl reactor was built and run in a country so technologically backward that it didn't even have enough toilet paper.

The Chernobyl reactor was so primitive that it didn't even have any containment walls.

The Chernobyl disaster is a great argument against communism. But it's not any kind of argument against nuclear power.

People who cite nuclear waste as a reason to oppose nuclear power don't know the facts.

Each French nuclear reactor generates only 3 cubic meters of waste per year. France keeps all of its nuclear waste for the entire country at one facility, where it has never hurt or killed anyone.

Each similar wattage coal power plant generates millions of tons of waste every year, which is released into the atmosphere, where it kills people, and causes global warming.

Fossil fuel waste kills millions of people worldwide every year. And fossil fuel waste releases far more radiation than nuclear power releases. The people who cite nuclear waste as a reason to oppose nuclear power don't seem concerned that their opposition to nuclear power causes us to continue to burn coal, which releases far more radiation, far more pollution, and kills far more people.

Opponents of nuclear power don't have a realisitc solution to global warmin. Every solar power plant has a backup source for when the sun isn't shining. And every wind farm has a backup source for when the wind isn't blowing. That backup is either hydro, fossil fuels, or nuclear. Hydro is great. But it's limited by geography. Fossil fuels cause global warming. So nuclear is the only other option.

Some countries in Europe have lots of wind farms, and some solar farms. But when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining, those countries import their electricity from France, which uses nuclear.

Finally, here is my favorite example of how the people who oppose nuclear power do not understand the concept of risk analysis:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137875,00.html

November 07, 2004

NANCY, France — A French anti-nuclear protester was killed Sunday in eastern France when his leg was severed by a train carrying radioactive waste to Germany, officials said.

He had been surprised by the train while trying to chain himself to the tracks as part of a protest.

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