Since we are on the subject of nuclear weapons, what are your thoughts on nuclear power? I come across a lot of people who are against nuclear power, but generally they don’t actually hold a position that can be backed by evidence to why they don’t support nuclear power. I’ve found myself leaning towards nuclear power in comparison to all the alternatives proposed these days. Nuclear No-Contest is a good quick read on the pro-nuclear position.
Yes or not in what sense? You mean as in “should it be legal?”
Should it be legal, and do you support the use of nuclear power in comparison to other energy methods, is what I’m aiming at.
Thorium is safer and doesn’t produce material for nukes.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9740 in general, I’d say no; it requires massive amounts of government subsidization to survive. Yes, I’m aware that all energy sectors are subsidized, but you have to compare like for like; if one industry receives more subsidies than the other and yet we still have a low percentage of that industry, then chances are it’s something the market does not want.
Yes.
Would the market build them? Probably not, from what I have heard.
You guys should read about the possibilities with thorium. Of course we can never say for sure what the world will look like in the future, but nuclear might dominate the market. At least one advantage it has is the lower levels of pollution. You need to factor in that pollution is actually tackled in a free society, versus today’s state of affairs.
Nuclear power should of course be ‘legal’ and a free arbitration industry would almost certainly move towards that. As for being economical or not…
It is a typical high-fixed-cost+low-variable-cost industry: once you build the reactor its practically runs itself. Especially the latest generation reactors are a beauty. I believe that nuclear power and hydroelectric power would come to dominate earth in an anarchic society. Hydro is cool but you can’t just build plants wherever you want them, but where nature allows, and transmission cost softer outdo production costs.
That leaves nuclear reactors as the only alternative. Toshiba has already created a “nuclear battery” a very small reactor, possible to build in every city with safety and low costs. There are fast breeders which run forever and if they can be made smaller and cheaper (to initially build), I have no doubt that nuclear power will rule earth.
Thorium sounds interesting to me. I watched this cool fast-paced sixteen minute video on it pieced together from several different people’s talks on it that made the case pretty convincingly, at least to a hard sciences layman like me.
-=Steve=-
That vid was cool!
Definitely.