French Shun Nuclear Energy, Choose Conservation

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/28855/french_shun_nuclear_energy_choose_conservation

Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research

French Shun Nuclear Energy, Choose Conservation

November 04, 2007

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The overwhelming majority of people in France agree there is a need to conserve energy and favour renewable sources, according to a poll by CSA. 96 per cent of respondents think conserving energy should be a priority, and 94 per cent think the European country should focus on developing solar and wind power.

Only 35 per cent of respondents think developing nuclear power should be a priority for France, and 61 per cent think this should not be the focus of the country’s energy policy.

France generates 79 per cent of its electricity from nuclear reactors—the highest percentage of any country in the world. There are currently 59 nuclear power plants in France.

...

[gateley]

1. I must say I'm happily surprised at this. I hope the government will listen

and begin focusing on alternative energy sources. The use of solar power (and nuclear testing) in France has long been a concern to me.

Thanks for posting this!

[NNadir]

2. Really?

They shut 79% of their lights off to go live in the Maine Solar House?

If the French shunned nuclear power, they'd be climate change gas pigs like the Germans.

Because of dangerous anti-nuke fantasies, Germany is about to demolish its largest source, by far, of global climate change gas free energy, by far, and begin burning South African coal.

If the French shut their nuclear power plants and the Germans are unable to import power from France, it will be darkess at noon because of all the soot.

The French shun...

Yeah right.

The sockpuppets seem to eat as many organically grown hallucinogenic mushrooms as the orginals.

France is the largest exporter of electricity in Europe, by far. Basically the European grid would probably collapse if France stopped exporting electricity. (Electricity is the 4th largest export of France, which has one of the largest economies in the world.)

[jpak]

6. Numbers don't lie

QED

[NNadir]

12. That would apply only to people who know what numbers mean.

People who can't read numbers lie all the time. There's a name for trying to make illiterate statements about the meaning of numbers. It's called "innumeracy." You can get an advanced degree in innumeracy in an online school. Here's the link, if you're interested: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/news/global-energy-scenario

My favorite form of innumeracy involves "percent talk."

When the anti-science anti-nuke religion has succeeded in vandalizing the world's largest form of global climate change gas free energy in France to serve it's Russian masters - and the South African coal industry as well - it will have something to crow about, another victory for illiteracy and ignorance. Until then it will cite silly cutesy polls.

Fifty sockpuppets citing push polls will not make for an energy policy and it will do zero to fight climate change, zero.

Zero, by the way, in case you're unfamiliar with it, is a real number.

[K8-EEE]

9. Just like us it's a question of transitioning from one to the other

That's kinda like the Freepers being like "Yes I'm sure you drove your CAR to the CONSERVATION meeting...didn't that use GAS?" :eyes:

[razzleberry]

3. Swedish voters shunned nuclear energy in 1980

by promising to eliminate nuclear power by the year 2000.

the promise-keeping Swedes can be
an inspiration to the French.

[madokie]

4. and they could be an inspiration to the Americans too

I was reading an article on nuclear waste and we have beaucoup of it already and no place to keep it thats anywhere safe for very long.

[phantom power]

5. Since when did "shun" come to mean "a consequence-free polling vote?"

They can say the French are "shunning" nuclear energy if and when they start decommissioning their reactors.

[Kolesar]

10. 96% of French prefer pretty irises and shun shit caught in the treads of their shoes, too

Reporting is crap on two continents.

[pberq]

7. At least the people are thinking the right thing.

Next step is to change their national policy. Hopefully we in the U.S. can do the same.

[greenman3610]

8. when people ask me about the French nuclear program

I point out that it is a perfect example of the
love affair that central planners have with nuclear.
Nuclear is the ultimate for those who prefer to keep and
concentrate political and economic power, because of the
links to military uses, the need for secrecy and security, and
the excuses it gives for threatening and bullying non-
nuclear countries.
There are no nuclear plants in construction anywhere in the
world that have a dime's worth of private capital invested -
that's because smart money shuns nuclear without the
sweetener of billions of dollars in guarantees from tax payers.
The "advanced" French reactor design currently being constructed in
Finland is turning into the same kind of fiasco we have so
often seen in the nuclear realm - way over budget with
construction errors and delays.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/05/bloomberg/bxnuke.php?page=1
In America, nuclear has been a non starter for 20 years until the
2005 energy bill guaranteed 6 billion dollars in capital to
new plants, and now we are seeing some scrambling to
pick up that money. The vendors and builders don't give a rats ass
about global warming or solving the energy problem, they
just want free taxpayers money, of course.

At the same time, if the French continue to choose nuclear, I don't have
so much of a problem with them doing so, what I do have a problem
with is the nuclear plants they are seeking to sell to
countries like Libya, and I wonder if that is the
next place we'll have to bomb.
http://www.armscontrol.org/act/2006_04/francelibya.asp

Now that renewables, wind, and solar, are coming online
with energy storage techniques that will allow
24/7 availability, and can be constructed in less than
half the time as nukes ( time is money for investors)
we can expect that new nuclear projects in this country will
be stranded halfway into construction as the investment
community sees what a millstone they are.


renewable base load power thru energy storage:
wind;
http://www.isepa.com/

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_41/b4053092.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

http://watthead.blogspot.com/2007/07/texas-wind-power-mega-project-announced.html

solar:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19440/

video here:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2047734.htm#
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/02/2048420.htm

[diane in sf]

13. thank you greenman--great message--worthy of its own thread

[Nihil]

15. Nice of you to "allow" a different country to make *some* of their own choices ...

> At the same time, if the French continue to choose nuclear, I don't
> have so much of a problem with them doing so, what I do have a problem
> with is the nuclear plants they are seeking to sell to countries like
> Libya, and I wonder if that is the next place we'll have to bomb.

How about this: Don't bomb anyone?

I know it's a novel suggestion to a large part of the American population
but most countries actually get by without bombing each other. It's only
the good old US of A that believes that a year without bombing a sovereign
country is a failure of foreign policy.

If the France or the US wants a nuclear power plant, they can build one.
If Libya wants a nuclear power plant, they are fully entitled to buy one.
The same applies to *any* other country in the world because, let's face it,
there isn't a more rogue nation at the moment than the USA.

:shrug:

[EVDebs]

11. Where does France take the waste from those 59 nuclear plants ? eom

[greenman3610]

14. they store it in underground caverns

it is against the law in France for citizens to protest
against nuclear facilities.
Perhaps with the progress that this administration is
making in dismantling the constitution, we will soon
reach this level of enlightenment.

Nuclear and democracy can not co-exist.

[EVDebs]

17. I hear that Dick Cheney has been secretly lobbying the NRC to allow for more nuke plants eom

[phantom power]

16. I'm thinking that after another 5-10 years of NG and oil price increases...

everybody will be wishing they were France, and France will look around themselves and re-discover an appreciation for their wealth of fossil-free energy.

Either way, we're going to find out soon enough.