Rafael Farinas blogs via faint praise that as the world looks at solar and wind power as viable, but unreliable and expensive, alternatives to power the grid, the solution obviously lies in other energy sources ... Nuclear and natural gas in a long transition to the ultimate power source, fusion energy or perhaps off-world solar. Solar and wind do have a place in remote areas, but not to power the grid.
Nuclear energy has remained a core source of energy for years and has made significant advancements toward a clean-energy future, with nearly endless energy for generations to come (i.e., fusion). Unfortunately, the fears of the public after the WW II limited development of new construction although 104 nuclear plants remained on-line for years producing almost 20% of the needs of the power grid, notwithstanding coal, etc.
The main reason some people oppose nuclear power is because they are constantly bombarded by misinformation from very small groups of opponents, and pandered to by local media and membership-driven adversarial companies (Greenpeace, etc.). Now even by politics.
The reality is that nuclear energy is currently the most efficient source available, having a safety record far better than coal, natural gas, and yes even solar and wind energy systems in terms of deaths. In an analysis, nuclear is 27 and 46 times less dangerous, respectively, when correlating deaths caused by accidents in these industries.
Although the current plants have an outstanding 40-year safety record, a few ignorant people still fear nuclear, but tolerate natural gas-line explosions and leaks, and coal-mining accidents and methane explosions. The industry has even developed new systems (molten-salt reactor and small, modular reactors (SMRs)) that appear to be ready for implementation soon. In the meantime, the 99 nuclear plants continue to compete in an unlevel market place with natural gas.
For more on media bias, see: http://i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/ConfrontingBias.pdf
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