Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site dciem.UUCP Path: utzoo!dciem!mmt From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Re: Oil and the costs of Fission Electricity Message-ID: <1727@dciem.UUCP> Date: Wed, 13-Nov-85 18:07:15 EST Article-I.D.: dciem.1727 Posted: Wed Nov 13 18:07:15 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 13-Nov-85 21:59:17 EST References: <460@mhuxm.UUCP> <740@whuxl.UUCP> <10822@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <528@scirtp.UUCP> <1092@jhunix.UUCP> <542@scirtp.UUCP> Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (PUT YOUR NAME HERE) Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada Lines: 36 Summary: >As I have stated, I am not a strict no-nuker, I just believe that >Americans are not being realistic about the risks of nuclear power >and are not making informed choices. > >-todd jones Are they (and we) being realistic about the risks of (a) burning fossil carbon, or (b) lacking energy to support the life-style to which we have become accustomed and to which much of the world would like to become accustomed? The primary risk of (a) is dramatic changes in climate and in the way plants grow, since CO2 does not go away on a scale of millions of years once the carbon has been taken from the ground and put into the air. If we burn all the readily accessible fossil fuels, the CO2 in the atmosphere would increase TEN-FOLD, with a possible temperature rise of tens of degrees (more in the high latitudes). All coastal cities would be flooded, as would a substantial portion of the world's land surface. The plants tend to grow more, but less nutritiously, in high CO2 atmospheres (just talking doubling CO2, here, not ten-times increase). I think the risk of (b) is self-evident. Riots and war, probably nuclear war, over the insufficient energy sources. Against these risks (which are far from the only hazards of fossil fule burning), even the worst possible risks of nuclear energy seem pretty small. And yes, conservation IS the best energy "source", but it is hardly likely to ever be enough. -- Martin Taylor {allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt {uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsri!dciem!mmt