Nuclear de-bunker15 December 2010
She says: I saw a programme the other night
with that environmentalist James somebody saying climate change is happening so fast now that we're going to have to use nuclear power - that we've left it too late for renewables like wind or wave power.
You say: That was James Lovelock, who came up with the idea that the earth is a living organism - the Gaia hypothesis. It's certainly disconcerting when the Godfather of Green says that, but a quick look at the cons and pros of nuclear power shows that it still sucks.
She says: Why? At least nuclear power doesn't produce carbon dioxide - unlike oil, coal and gas.
You say: But you need to count mining and transporting uranium, building nuclear power plants, and storage and processing of nuclear waste.
Doubling nuclear power would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a poxy 8% - which is far short of the 60-80% cuts we need to get the climate back on an even keel.
She says: But it's cleaner than ...
You say: How can something more toxic than Britney Spears be called clean? Nuclear waste is radioactive for tens of thousands of years - and no one can agree on how to store it safely.
She says: Scary. But they will eventually
figure it out.
You say: Meanwhile, leaks and near misses in power stations are commonplace.
Reprocessing spent fuel from reactors leads to radioactive contamination of the air and sea. And to cap it all, civil nuclear power is closely linked to nuclear weapons technology.
She says: But maybe Lovelock is right - that renewables won't bring down emissions quickly enough.
You say: Worldwide, wind and solar power are growing by 20-30% a year.
She says: But aren't they really expensive?
You say: The cost of wind power is already competitive with nuclear and is expected to get cheaper.
Decommissioning the old nuclear plants and storing waste in the UK is likely to cost more than £60 billion - and the taxpayer is having to foot the bill.
She says: OK. You've totally persuaded me that nuclear power is not the way forward.
The way to the bar, however, is over there. Your round.
© Resignent
