Feb
25
2008

So…Can We Finally Look Again At Nuclear Power?

Now that crude is regularly exceeding $100 a barrel?

Firstly I’m not going to sit here and argue either Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. Chernobyl was a disaster that stemmed from lack of appropriate safety guards that WE AS AMERICANS could not manage, let alone change.

Of course, we are buying “feel good” energy saving items such as the MERCURY LADEN florescent bulb (http://sound.westhost.com/articles/incandescent.htm – a bit long, but very good), and hybrid vehicles with the regenerative braking technology that unfortunately doesn’t work well on American freeways.

So….lets look at what happened at Three Mile Island FACTUALLY (http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html), we can see that the “hollywood” drama was not there and the plant is still active (silos 1, 3 & 4 still produce electricity for the Susquehanna River)!

Say what you want, but America is a land of appearances. Most people are OK with nuclear power as long as it’s not in their neighborhood. It’s like the wind farms…many communities do not want them because of them being “unsightly.” To solve the energy crisis in America will require some individual sacrifice (which should be OK since we haven’t had to sacrifice for the war) to come up with real alternatives to oil dependency.

By the by, over 50% of America’s electricity comes from coal plants….you know, those sweet clean burning coal plants.

Now while I am a proponent of Nuclear Power, I am also a proponent of safety. We need to ensure that there are adequate safeguards for our existing plants – one hundred and eight are still active and working – as well as a proper means for disposal (i.e. the plant that was shut down in Vancouver, Washington still has the nuclear core installed since it could not be transported!).

If people are scared of Nuclear Power plants in their area, don’t forget that we have unexploded munitions, abandoned mines, contaminated dumps, etc. that are also in our respective back yards as we vie for more land to live on.

We as the citizenry need to stand up and demand safeguards to use these resources.

It’s either that, more ties to OPEC, or Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) here we come!

Bookmark and Share
[del.icio.us] [Digg] [Google] [LinkedIn] [StumbleUpon] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »
Powered by Bookmarkify™
Written by Karl in: America |
Feb
14
2008

I’ve been neglectful and I’m sorry……

As I realize on valentine’s day that I should be more attentive to my girlfriend of six years, I also realized that I have also been neglecting to make posts for two months.

So…from this day on I will make a resolution to focus more on my blog, by posting more articles and so forth. You visitors deserves my attention (though not as much as Lynn - but attention nonetheless).

Since I do see my stats dropping and I’m getting e-mails that I need to get back on the stick, I apologize to those who have been looking for more frequent postings.

So what’s been going on in my textual absence? Not much more than normal - continuing my projects with current and new clients, and volunteering again with MDA, etc.

I definately have opinions on everything out there (one good post I started around Christmas and need to finish is now that Oil reached the $100/barrel mark…maybe it’s time to once again look at nuclear power), and have read new books such as Al Gore’s The Assault on Reason – which vindicates my assertion that he’s better where he is at now instead of trying again to run for president – and Reza Aslan’s No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam to name a few.

So…I’m back!

Bookmark and Share
[del.icio.us] [Digg] [Google] [LinkedIn] [StumbleUpon] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »
Powered by Bookmarkify™
Written by Karl in: Karl |
Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes

Powered by WordPress | Theme: Aeros 2.0 by TheBuckmaker.com