[ RadSafe ] a non-global warming case for nuclear energy

[A Karam]

There are arguments for nuclear power that do not depend on global warming.
 
We depend on energy for much more than a high standard of living.  We use it for clean water, lighting, food production, air conditioning (which is a necessity in some parts of the world), and so forth.  A small fraction of people on Earth have access to enough energy to live a healthy or safe life, let alone at a Western standard of living.  If we are to simply try to make electricity available to every village - just for the basics of a healthy life - we need to have a tremendous amount of additional electrical generating capacity.  Add to this all those who want to also have computers, cable television, and so forth, and we need even more energy to make it happen.  And this doesn't even start to look at an increasing population, trying to improve the standard of living in the West, industrial growth, etc.
 
Fossil fuels are finite and will, at some point run out, and all the alternate fuels we know of are self-limiting for one reason or another.  If we run out of energy, we lose the ability to have a civilization any more advanced than that which existed before the Industrial Revolution.
 
So - regardless of whether or not global warming is real or anthropogenic, nuclear energy is one of the few technologies that gives us the opportunity to not only maintain the global status quo, but also to offer a better standard of living to those who currently live with poverty, malnurishment, and disease.  Even nuclear energy won't last forever, but it will outlast fossil fuels.
 
Andy

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If global warming and Green House effect is debatable or "phony", then you
don't need nuclear energy and you can keep your precious SUVs, you can also
continue using coal or natural gas to produce energy.

I am playing the devil's advocate here, for sake of an unbiased debate.

But I agree that we should stand up and claim with no hesitation that
nuclear power is very clean and very safe.