[ RadSafe ] Solar radiation, global warming and HP future employment

[Stewart Farber]

Hello all,
  I feel Franz has a totally legitimate point on the endless back and forth between various radsafers about fine points of the global warming debate. His criticism that this issue is best left to climatologists is right on target.
   
  The greenhouse gas level in the atmosphere trends, and whether human activities are currently leading to significant climate warming will be answered by broad consensus science, and not debate by non-specialists about narrow points of view on minor details -many of them taken out of context and lacking synthesis.
   
  That being said, the basic point that a 1000 MW[e] base-load nuclear generating plant avoids the combustion of many megatons of coal, and millions of barrels of oil, and the equivalent amount of natural gas at a coal, oil or gas fired power plant of equivalent output is a point worth making.  
   
  From the point of view of radsafe this detail about carbon dioxide release avoided is legitimate, and the operation of more than 400 nuclear plants worldwide today cumulatively avoids the release of gigatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. 
   
  Beyond refining the carbon dioxide release avoided by operating nuclear power plants, I see no justification for endlessly debating details of the greenhouse effect on this list. 
   
  Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
  Air Pollution Control -UMass School of Public Health '73
  [203] 441-8433
  ========================

howard long <hflong at pacbell.net> wrote:
    Dear Franz,
"What does global warming have to do with health physics?"

Nuclear power expansion needs support from the (erroneous) belief 
that CO2 (not produced from nuclear power plants like carbon fueled ones) 
is causing future disaster from global warming.

Nuclear is now "GREEN"!
We need all the political support we can get!

Howard Long


Franz Schönhofer wrote:
Reading a large number of recent messages to RADSAFE one could get the
impression that this is a list for climatologists. What has the solar
cycles, the solar hot spots etc to do with "radioactivity" - unless dealing
with the production of C-14, which is not mentioned in any single message? 
  .................................................