Reply #13: Nuclear power is not a real solution. Deal with it. [View All]

[Porcupine]

Dr. Helen Caldicott has outlined why far better than I can.

I was sure nuclear was dead in America when I saw a television clip of Bruce Willis, a republican actor, protesting the siting of a low level waste disposal facility in Idaho. If you can't sucker republicans in Idaho to buy nukes you can't get anybody anywhere.

Closer to home; after the Enron fiasco nobody is going to trust the government or corporations to build a new power plant. Diablo Canyon shut down and Enron pushed California into a series of fraudulent blackouts.

My mom has solar panels in her parking lot that work just fine thank you. So does the county jail, the sewage treatment plant, the local business college and several gas stations. They can be installed with about 2 months planning and little or no political problems. All of these units were built without massive cost overruns or black budget subsidies from the government. When they die we can recycle them without the need of a military escort.

Here in California we could probably eliminate the load equivilant of Diablo Canyon by replacing old AC units with geothermal loop systems, painting our roofs white and changeing out all our light bulbs. The wind blows on the coastal hills almost 24/7. Inland the sun shines more than enough to make solar thermal plants a reality.

I know personally people living in rammed earth, straw bale and passive solar houses; they are comfortable and practical. Very little power is required by these buildings at night.

The Prius is practical; my sister has one. I could easily drive a electric truck if Ford hadn't cancelled it's program. The Tesla car demonstrates that the technology is available to apply to other vehicles. More practically we could rebuild the networks of light rail that the US used to have. We could even electrify the interstates for trucking to use saving diesel. All practical.

Nobody needs nuclear power and only a few crazies want it. Clean up the waste from existing plants then talk to us.