Kudos for Atomic Rod

I retweeted, but I'm also highlighting here:

Nuclear power after Fukushima: it is, still, the energy of the future

Great read, making many points that I have thought or somewhat stated (briefly, at least) regarding my energy source of choice and employment. Here's what I like best:

"Any decision to slow down nuclear-energy development needs to be taken in full understanding that nuclear fission competes almost directly with fossil fuels, not with some idealized power source that carries no risk and causes no harm to the environment. The electricity that Germany has refused to accept from seven large nuclear plants that the government ordered closed after Fukushima has not been replaced by the output of magically spinning offshore wind turbines or highly efficient solar panels. It has been replaced by burning more gas from Russia, by burning more dirty lignite in German coal plants, and by purchasing electricity generated by nuclear-energy plants in France."

Now, I'm all in favor of drastically improved societal energy efficiency, biofuels, solar panel farms in the Sahara, wind turbine arrays in the ocean and on the Great Plains. As a society, we need to be more diversified, and we need to be more conservation-minded. Conservation IS a virtue. However, economic development requires energy, and sustainable development requires clean energy. Nuclear provides that option. It is not an error that China and the Middle East are investing heavily in nuclear energy and moving forward with increased nuclearization. To their credit, they may be paving the way for the rest of the Earth to follow their lead, have abundant energy, and...

... maybe perhaps hopefully, also head off the climate change dragon that threatens to consume future generations with declining environmental conditions around the world.