I’ve long been a fan of nuclear power over wasting petroleum energy on electric (hydroelectric and wind are fine, but don’t come anywhere close to meeting America’s power needs). This is not base on global warming concerns, but the fact that someday – despite new technologies for find and extracting it – oil will simply been too difficult or expensive to extract. So it’s not surprising that I agree with what Roger Cohen has to say about France and nuclear power:
It’s not often that I find myself recommending a French state-owned industry as the answer to major U.S. problems, but I guess there’s an exception to every rule.
In this case the exception is the French nuclear energy company Areva, which provides about 80 percent of the country’s electricity from 58 nuclear power plants. . .
Contrast that with the United States, where just 20 percent of electricity comes from nuclear plants, no commercial reactor has come on line since 1996, no new reactor has been ordered for decades, and debate about nuclear power remains paralyzing. . .
[. . .]
Nuclear power has proved safe in both France and America — not one radiation-related death has occurred in the history of U.S. commercial nuclear power. It constitutes a vital alternative to the greenhouse-gas spewing coal-power plants that account for over 50 percent of U.S. electricity generation. Thousands of people die annually breathing the noxious particles of coal-fire installations.
[. . .]
“Nuclear power is the most efficient energy source we have,” said Gwyneth Cravens, author of “Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Power.” “Uranium is energy-dense. If you got all your electricity from nuclear for your lifetime, your share of the waste would fit in a soda can.”
America needs to start building nuclear power plant, in large numbers and soon.
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