Can Green Energy Help Prevent Nuclear Weapons?
We all know that green energy is good for the environment, better for our breathing air, and helps lessen our dependence on foreign oil, but what about world affairs? Can green energy help with that? Well, it could certainly help prevent the generation of dangerous nuclear weapons.
Some people refer to nuclear power as a “green” energy, and while it is true that it doesn’t produce emissions like coal, it is certainly not a “green” energy. The Nuclear Energy Institute says that “A typical nuclear power plant in a year generates 20 metric tons of used nuclear fuel.” That’s a lot radioactive waste, which can remain highly hazardous for thousands or sometimes millions of years. The only way to dispose of it is to bury it for thousands upon thousands of years. Somehow a power source that produces so much dangerous waste just doesn’t strike me as being all that “green.”
Secondly, no matter how well-built the plant is, very serious accidents can (and have occurred). Most recently the nuclear meltdown in Japan, before that the Three-Mile Island disaster, and before that the Chernobyl catastrophe. Each time we the people are assured that all the kicks have been worked out and that it could never happen again, but tell that to the people in the fallout path of a nuclear disaster. How many disasters do we need before we get the message?
Of course one of the most dangerous consequences of nuclear power is that any country can say they want to develop nuclear energy for power, and then turn it around to develop nuclear weapons. Instead, why not take nuclear power out of the equation altogether? Instead we could use alternatives to produce power that actually are green and don’t have the possibility to be weaponized.
We all know that oil is not an infinite resource and that eventually alternative methods of fuel will be required to power the future unless we want to end up in a Road Warrior type civilization. However, there is not going to be any one-size-fits-all solution. When it comes to green energy, different methods work better in different places. It may require a diverse network of solar, wind, algae, manure, geothermal, and hydro among others, all working together to power our world.
With so many available power choices, we don’t need to walk the dangerous line of nuclear power. At least if we got rid of nuclear power, we wouldn’t have to worry about where to bury the waste, and I think people would have a much harder time developing weapons of war out of something like algae. Let’s ditch the nuclear power and make the world not only a greener place, but a safer one as well.
What methods of green power do you find most interesting?
Copyright © Amber Reifsteck ~ The Woodland Elf
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