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Yucca Mountain, Nuclear Energy and Irrational Fear

By Eric McErlain
Does the public around the world have an irrational fear of nuclear energy? I have my own thoughts on the matter, but right now I'm going to yield the floor to Anders Rasmussen:
It is no secret that we are facing an energy crisis. I am personally not convinced that CO2 emissions is an important contributing factor when it comes to Global warming, however, the fact of the matter is that our fossil fuels will eventually be used up and when there is none left we will need a different source of energy. Fission of uranium and plutonium is not an endless source of energy, however, it would provide us with energy for quite a while. Yet many countries do not want to build these Nuclear power plants, largely because of what I think is irrational fear…
Anders is also thinks the Yucca Mountain project is still a good idea. Read the rest right now.
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Comments

Ian Rees said…
Does the NEI have a position on anthropogenic climate change? I've been under the impression the scientific consensus is fairly complete in this matter.
July 31, 2007 at 11:28 PM
Chelsea said…
From the NEI policy brief... "Carbon Dioxide - the greenhouse gas mainly emitted by human activity - is the major focus of policy discussions to reduce emissions. Many scientists believe that carbon dioxide emissions increase changes in climate."
So they seem to acknowledge the scientific consensus but I have not been able to find anywhere that they have stated their own position.
August 1, 2007 at 8:01 AM
Eric McErlain said…
NEI has no official position on climate change as climate science is not our area of expertise. However, we make no bones about the fact that if you want to constrain carbon emissions while producing affordable and reliable electricity, that nuclear energy needs to be part of the world's energy mix.
August 1, 2007 at 8:44 AM
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