Word: nuclearism
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Furthermore, nuclear energy is immeasurably cleaner than burning coal, oil, or natural gas; the carbon emissions from the entire nuclear-energy cycle about equal that of a wind or hydroelectric plant. Nuclear plants even emit less radioactivity than coal plants, since there are natural radioactive materials mixed in with the coal, which are vented into the air. The footprint of a nuclear plant is miniscule compared to the hundreds of windmills required to generate the electrical output of a single reactor. Nuclear plants also avoid the highly toxic chemicals used in solar-panel production, and again, a single reactor...
...sometimes said by nuclear’s opponents that the “nuclear waste” problem makes nuclear energy dangerous even today, but this is simply untrue. There is no “nuclear-waste problem.” “Nuclear waste” is an ideological bogeyman, a catch-all phrase used to justify technical rejection of nuclear energy on grounds that are, in fact, purely political. As far as the technology goes, the United States Navy, France, Japan, and others have been safely storing and reprocessing nuclear waste for over half a century...
...historical reasons, opinion on nuclear energy has become divided along party lines, an unnecessary political judgment on what should be a simple and clear technical question. There is no real ideological reason for this; nuclear energy is not innately conservative or liberal. It is merely a tool that has gained a very unfortunate political labeling. Fortunately, the global-warming crisis has started to remove some of the more emotional opposition to nuclear power, and the question has become somewhat less partisan over the last several years...
...careful combination of nuclear energy for so-called “base load” electricity, plus wind and solar for “peak” generation, would allow an infrastructure that combines nearly zero greenhouse emissions and zero limits on available energy. And if there is no environmental harm, then energy, in itself, is extraordinarily good. It is directly and very closely correlated with growth in gross domestic product, life expectancy, and quality-of-life measures. It is desirable and essential to human progress; it is what separates us from the Middle Ages...
...Nuclear electricity offers both the prospect of using existing and well-understood technology to allow a halt to environmental damage caused by dirty carbon fuels and the prospect of a future of more energy, opportunity, technology, economic growth, and scientific progress. The benefits of clean energy are thus too great to ignore...