A Splitting Headache

 

 Source:  steelturman.typepad.com

I think even as a child I had a fondness for nuclear energy. Looking back, I blame the Simpsons for most of my support. I suppose that tropes such as the three-eyed fish, and that wickedly fluorescent uranium, were supposed to put me off the whole idea, but I couldn’t help but want a twelve-eyed dog that glowed in the dark.

As I grew into a teenager, my opinions began to mature (slightly). I discovered a Nuclear Disarmament patch in a dusty American thrift shop, and promptly convinced my mother to buy it and and sew it on to my newly acquired denim jacket. I spent the next few years trying to convince people that I honestly wasn’t trying to look all ‘New Age’, and genuinely thought nuclear weapons were a nasty idea. Even then I think my idea of what was ‘New Age’ was a little bit past its protest-by date.

However, a tolerance of nuclear power remained. I still firmly believe that a country can justify enriching uranium without wishing to lob the stuff across state borders. My sympathies would go out to Iran, provided they didn’t start official events by chanting “Death to America”.

The fact that we are grappling with the challenge of a carbon-free future only raises the stakes. I say grappling the challenge, but at best we are lightly tickling it. Boffins suggest that as early as 2015 we could be experiencing blackouts due to power shortages. Nuclear power could fill the gap.

The alternative is a reliance on renewables. Unfortunately we are not Iceland, who receive over 50 percent of their energy from geothermals, so this means wind-turbines. While they make wonderful modern art installations, anyone who has driven past one can tell you that they do look rather static most of the time.

Or we could use less power. Speaking as a person who turns into a gibbering lunatic whenever the lights get left on overnight, I can relate to this. But in reality there is only so far this can take us. Hospitals, schools, and research facilities all require an increasing amount of power to keep their employees entertained, and I doubt we are willing to go back to treating various ailments with copious amounts of leeches and praying.

Having said that, there will always be the eternal ‘if’ with nuclear power. The plant can be made to the highest of standards, the employees can be trained with Spartan discipline, and the whole system will still only be one honest mistake away from irradiating hundreds of miles of pristine (but slightly devalued) countryside, and killing thousands of unfortunate homeowners. Anyone who takes this scenario lightly deserves a long night in a skip full of used nappies.

The only response I could offer is that if we’re scared of this kind of scenario with nuclear power, we better stop reading New Scientist for a while. Genetic manipulation, Fusion, Artificial Intelligence, all are technologies that can lead us in a very dark direction if we make mistakes or use them irresponsibly.

The first farmers probably thought a doomsday scenario of a bad harvest. I’m sure glad they took the leap. Fukushima was over 40 years old and was hit by an earthquake. Followed by a tsunami. We can’t live in fear forever.