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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
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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
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