by Allan Taylor

Created on: September 21, 2008

Understanding this question is a problem unto itself.

Nuclear power is an important option for the generation of base-load electricity in countries where it is sensible to use it, and when all relevant factors are considered.

Global warming is a non-problem for mankind and we should not worry about it. The measured amount of warming for the last 100 years is only 0.7 degrees C and that has largely been negated by cooling over the past couple of years. A prolonged cooling period is more likely for the future. The next Ice Age is well over due, irrespective of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, i.e., changes in atmospheric CO2 do not cause changes to global temperatures. The real world is far more complicated than that!

The present hysteria about cataclysmic global warming is a product of man-made computer climate models used by the IPCC and the associated scientists who are on the global warming band wagon. Their economic well-being is dependent on maintaining the global warming scare to maintain the gravy train of research grants, even though the theory that increases of atmospheric CO2 causes global warming, has long ago been discredited (1,2).

Even if there was detectable global warming this would be a good thing and more desirable than global cooling. The observed increase in atmospheric CO2 over the last 150 years has been very beneficial to mankind in that it has resulted in a greening of our planet by improving plant and crop growth rates. We can now (almost) feed 6.6 billion people whereas 100 years ago, we were struggling to feed 1.5 billion people which was the world population in 1908. During this time nothing catastrophic has happened that could be related to the change in CO2 level.

Nuclear power is often promoted as being "non-polluting" in the sense that it has negligible CO2 emissions compared to a coal-fired power station. The latter are actually better because they do liberate lots of desirable CO2 to the atmosphere (where it came from in the first place) and so generate electricity at the cheapest possible cost. However, the Green Movement is dead against nuclear power, but why is this?

The supposed evils of uranium mining and nuclear power are used by the Greens to frighten the populace into supporting them. Also, and to a greater extent, their "Theory of Cataclysmic Global Warming" does the same thing. Scare mongering is a forte of the radical environmental movement, who believe that the end justifies the means.

At hand I have a small brochure

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