One reader recently commented:
Judging the risks (associated with a certain energy technology) is hard because it’s about making guesses about the unknown. … In a way it’s easier to predict that the sun will continue to shine than to predict that nuclear power won’t fall from grace.
Your point about the risk of nuclear falling from grace is an interesting one. I’m sure there are some fascinating discussions going on about the decisions being made in Japan, Germany, Italy, etc. And yes, there is the growing voice of the anti-nuke movement generally. Add to that the costs of nuclear that are spiraling even further out of control with each passing year.
Coincidentally, I was on a conference call yesterday in which I re-admitted my total bewilderment on the subject. I told the call’s participants, “Think of how far the cost of renewables will fall in the 8 – 10 years it will take to design, permit, build, and deploy the next nuclear reactor in the U.S. Who in their right mind would seriously consider such and endeavor? And yet we still read about a ‘nuclear renaissance.’ That there are people actually moving forward with plans of such enormous scope that are so obviously wrong and so completely illogical can mean only one thing: they have some serious money behind them. Watch out.”
