As the world grapples with the existential crisis of climate change, environmental activists want President Joe Biden to phase out the oil industry, and Republicans argue he’s already doing that. Meanwhile, the surprising reality is the United States is pumping oil at a blistering pace and is on track to produce more oil than any country has in history.
You know, I knew that but totally forgot. Thanks for the reminder. This is a cool article about his experience, particularly in a nuclear cleanup. This part is particularly interesting, considering his long life. “They let us get probably a thousand times more radiation than they would now. It was in the early stages and they didn’t know.” Even a thousand times more than the maximum today isn’t even as harmful as most think.
This is also an interesting insight into how his views changed.
He was originally interested in the technology through reason, but he became opposed through emotion.
However, he’s not an expert. Admittedly, this is a biased source, but there’s no chance he was actually educated on nuclear reactor operations, at least prior to becoming president. He was more knowledgeable than others at the time, who could barely know anything on the subject, but he couldn’t have known how they actually operate.
I don’t disagree he probably has more knowledge on it than both of us combined, but I don’t claim knowledge on it. I claim knowledge of what experts say, and they all say it’s the safest source of energy we have. They say it does have some risks associated with it, but so does everything. There is a near zero risk for meltdown of modern reactors, and even if one were to happen it’s extremely unlikely to cause serious damage.
For example, the thing that caused the most damage with Fukushima was the evacuation, not the actual radioactive waste. They evecuated areas that didn’t need to be and probably caused more harm than they prevented. If they took a measured response, fewer people would have been harmed and less damage would have been done.
Give a counter-argument of why we shouldn’t at least consider utilizing nuclear energy in places where it makes sense?
Edit: Also, for reference, I live very close to probably the largest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard. I haven’t been worried about it for a single second of my life. There have been no accidents, as far as I’m aware, and they’re very safe. There’s a reason the navy makes such good use of them, even on vehicles designed to be under attack.
I’m all for using nuclear energy where it makes sense. Which is basically past the asteroid belt, and possibly the moon because of its two-week-long nights that make solar power difficult. But beyond that I don’t see a use for nuclear fission power.
For the rest of it, the expense and risk of nuclear energy doesn’t make sense, at least to me. I would love for the nuclear dreams of the 50s to be realized. But, like airships, nuclear fission feels like a dead-end technology, especially at this point in time.
I think we would be better off investing in systems that support renewable energy - electricity storage, efficiency, and grid modernization - than it would be to dump billions of dollars into plants that won’t come online for decades.
But that’s me. And I’m really thankful that you took the time to write a great response. LLAP 🖖
The expense and time for constructing reactors is mostly just red tape. We need some amount of that, but it’s rediculous levels. The US Navy puts out reactors faster than commercial can, and those are designed to be portable and to be under attack. There’s no good reason for the amount of time they take in the US. China has been constructing them faster, for example.
I absolutely agree those should be the priority. Grid modernization has to take place no matter what for that matter. I also agree we shouldn’t invest billions into plants that won’t come online for decades. I’m of the opinion we should change the laws to allow much less expensive and faster to build reactors. As it is now, nuclear doesn’t make sense. We need to change the way things are now, whether that’s to focus on renewables, nuclear, or both. The status quo has failed.
LLAP 🖖
Yep. Nope. Done with this.