Several weeks ago Joshua Pearce at Clarion University in Pennsylvania released a study titled “ Thermodynamic limitations to nuclear energy deployment as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology .” In the study he stated... nuclear energy production would have to increase by 10.5% per year from 2010 to 2050 to both replace fossil-fuel-energy use and meet the future energy demands. This line, of course, made the headlines and has been picked up by several outlets and blogs . When looking into his calculations for this statement, he made one assumption error that overstated the above sentence by nearly a factor of three. Page 121, Section 4.1 of the study states: Richard Smalley pointed out that in 2004, the global economy consumed the equivalent of 220 million barrels of oil per day, which converted into electricity terms is the equivalent of 14.5 TeraWatts (TW), or 14,500,000 MegaWatts (MW) (2005). … With a nuclear plant having about 1000 MW (1 GW) of capacity, we would need 14,500...
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We are being scared into supporting nuclear power on a campaign of fear supported by current issues such as global warming and drought. i'm not saying that these issues are not bonafide, simply that they are being exploited by big business to support nuclear power. similar to the war on terror starting with a fear campaign by bush to garner support from the americans and the rest of the world. so too, nuclear power is gaining acceptance in much the same fashion.
soon we will realise that it is a hoax and that there are other, better ways forward on this issue.