13 Mar 2011

So, @purrsikat asked if I'm pro-nuclear...

It depends on the context.

Despite the massive negative side-effects, I'm "pro" fossil fuel when
it's the only alternative to desperate poverty, as has been the case
for the last couple of hundred years.

Compared to fossil fuel I'm generally "pro" nuclear. Despite what the
media is saying, it looks like a magnitude 9 earthquake and a 10m
tsunami were enough to cause serious damage the the nuclear plant, but
that *hasn't* resulted the the containment measures failing. That's
pretty amazing.

I think nuclear is easy to be scared of, but factually pretty safe.

And compared to nuclear, I'm "pro" solar/wind/tidal power. There's
some fantastically interesting and promising research going on with
hyper-efficient PV cells, algae-produced oil, concentrating solar
power etc that will soon be commercially viable.

Basically: it depends. Nuclear done correctly, in the right
circumstances, can be much cleaner, safer and cheaper than fossil
fuels. I'm not sure I'd be building new plants though, when next gen
'green' sources are so close to becoming viable. This is particularly
true in Aus, where we have so much damn potential for making good use
of solar.