Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Never go back...

Did I hear that right? That Britain's answer to the impending 'Energy Gap' is to return to the Sixties and the era of power that was going to be so cheap that it wouldn't be worth metering.

When is it ever right to go back to a technology that has been totally discredited - with the longest lasting pollution of all the power generation methods that have been used over the years. It's like re-introducing CFCs if we get an aerosol deficit. Are we so devoid of ideas now that we have to re-invent the wheel.

OK, so I advocate building on, rather than destroying ideas, but is difficult to see where this one is headed. The basic ingredients of nuclear power are always going to end up with hazardous waste of the most extreme kind. There are two types of pollution: those that you can see, and those that you cannot. They are both bad. Little did we know that burning fossil fuels creates both kinds, and it is the invisible one that is the longest lasting: CO2.

France, one of the biggest fans of nuke power is experimenting with a large hole in the ground to bury the waste. Understandably the locals are objecting. Wouldn't you.

Read the Energy Blog for alternatives please Tony.

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