CO2 Emissions from Electrical Generation: 1980 to 2030

[GliderGuider]

9. Did you really think I was trying to justify the building of nukes???

Not a chance! I'm perfectly happy to see the curve of nuclear generation sliding down toward 2030. I do not want to seen any new nukes built, and I want to see the operating ones shut down as quickly as is politically possible.

Nuclear power is completely the wrong sort of technology to be building this close to the end of a cycle of civilization. It's too expensive, it's dynamically unstable (meaning it takes constant attention to keep various things from going wrong with it), and the consequences of an "excursion" are too great for a stressed, decaying civilization to deal with adequately.

If we're going to run around spending money and effort to keep the lights on, better to spend it on lower-tech projects with fewer consequences if part of it breaks down. I'd rather have a dozen busted, flaming windmills in the next field than a single busted, flaming nuke.

My big concern is CO2, since its consequences may be fatal for entire ecosystems far into the future. Not adding nuclear concerns on top of that, for marginal return, seems only sensible.