NEI Nuclear Notes

Over at Washington Monthly 's Political Animal , Steve Benen has a robust discussion going on about Mariah Blake 's feature story in the Jan/Feb issue, " Bad Reactors: Rethinking your opposition to nuclear power? Rethink again ." This post in the comment thread caught my eye. Once I learned the science, I found that much of the left's objections to nuclear were unfounded. And I say that as a bona fide lefty in favor of single payer health care, a minimum income, and other things considered too far to the left for passage. As for how long the nuclear waste lasts, the heavy metals and carcinogens generated by the tons daily from burning coal have a half-life of forever. It's not enough to say what's wrong with nuclear; you have to compare it to the incredibly destructive alternatives we're already doing on a planet killing scale today. We can and I believe we will get past the downsides of nuclear. It will provide a base supply that can be supplemented...