Why I Don't Support the Nuclear Alternative

Nukes Kill. Period.

Getting Off Our Nuclear Power Fixation: "Despite Vice President Dick Cheney's contention that nuclear power is 'carbon-free,' nukes contribute to the greenhouse effect. The government is betting billions of dollars of our money, and could simply give it away to developers to build new nuclear plants. And, our country's aging nuke fleet is getting plastic surgery while its innards decay and get ever closer to fatal accidents."

UPDATE (07-04-2006) And even an argument to me like this, where wind is compared to nuclear, makes no difference:

"Wind power has been established as a safe, clean, cheap energy option," the Earth Policy Institute's Joseph Florence told OneWorld.

The U.S. has installed 9,100 megawatts of wind power capacity, the group says, including a record-breaking 2,400 megawatts in 2005. Chief among the reasons for the growth were advances in technology and a 1.9-cent per kilowatt-hour tax credit for electricity produced from a wind farm during the first 10 years of its operation.

"Political support is the key driver in the wind industry," Florence said. "If Congress votes to continue the production tax credit, then the future is bright. But without government support it just can't compete against traditional non-renewable technologies."

Not everyone is so bullish on wind power's ability to provide for America's energy needs, however.

Advocates of nuclear power contend that wind require too much land to power the U.S. grid. Almost half of U.S. energy currently comes from coal, while 20 percent comes from nuclear power. Nuclear industry representatives say if America is to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming, nuclear power must be front and center.

"Nuclear energy has the smallest environmental footprint of any other emission-free source," the Nuclear Energy Institute's Mitch Singer told OneWorld.

Nuclear's CO2 footprint may be smaller, but its poisonous half-life nature makes it a Goliath. Don't be swayed by the least important feature of the pro-nuclear argument--a slight contribution to humanity's early heat death-- while ignoring the more harmful effects of a later death from disease and deformity!