On Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:31:18 -0500 Thomas Shelley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
Other basic flaws in nuclear power are that it
> <itself>
> perpetuates the insane consumption of "stuff" (tens or hundreds of
>
> millions of dollars of life cycle cost for one plant) and that many
> of the
> materials used are going to peak--uranium is probably being the
> first metal
> to peak followed by several other key materials used to make
> reactors. The
> price of nickel, a key ingredient in stainless steel, is going
> through the
> roof
Thomas has pointed to an effect of energy consumption that applies far
beyond the issue of nuclear energy. The tragic truth is that this "basic
flaw" in the nuclear power alternative applies equally to every attempt
to significantly replace fossil fuel with renewable energy: all will
continue to eat up the "other key materials" that are finite resources,
without which our present production of "stuff" and associated quality of
life will collapse. Worse, the production of stuff at anything like the
present rate, USING ANY ENERGY SOURCE, will continue many of the
increasingly obvious negative ripple effects of all sorts, of which
global climate change is just one.
This tragic truth will be the hardest to get through the blanket of
denial that unfortunately covers much of the 'green' movement. We need to
punch past the current single issue focus on climate change, and keep
pointing out all the other undesired effects of the modern rate of
production, some of which were satirized in The Story of Stuff: the
damage to the natural resource base (some of it permanent), the plunder
of the resources of the 'client states' of the industrial empires, the
damage to quality of life everywhere that people are conditioned to value
stuff more than anything else.
Thomas argued that resort to nuclear power will be cut short by the
general economic collapse driven by the depletion of oil. I tend to
agree, but suspect that the advocates of major investments in this and
renewables will chew up a lot of precious resources in the effort before
it grinds to a halt. That would be a further tragedy. Instead, as Thomas
concludes, we should aim for modest, local energy alternatives and
persuade people of the rewards to be gained from just powering down,
period.
Karl North
Northland Sheep Dairy, Freetown, New York USA
www.geocities.com/northsheep/
"Mother Nature never farms without animals" - Albert Howard
"Pueblo que canta no morira" - Cuban saying
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