A few hours ago, I was discussion sustainability in one of my classes, and we brought up the topic of alternate energy sources. Since the main electrical company in my area has recently decided to raise the rates in order to build a nuclear reactor within the next ten years, I thought it would be appropriate to state my support for the idea to the rest of the class, citing that it was one of the more efficient means of producing energy as well as being cleaner than the current plants. I even brought up the success of nuclear energy in France, where each of its 59 reactors is capable of producing roughly 7 billion kWh/year. [1]
The first response to this was "Yeah, because nukes are great for the environment."
Although I know that nuclear energy isn't necessarily a "clean" energy source due to the production of plutonium and other radioactive materials (some of which can be used to power long-range NASA spacecraft), I was still contested by my classmates, who stated that we should still pursue more plants that generate electricity through either wind or solar means, despite my claims that nuclear energy was far more efficient. Once I got out of class, I started thinking about this topic, and I reached a possible conclusion as to why I was one of the few to support nuclear energy: do we still have a collective mentality that is an artifact of the Cold War era?
Thinking back to the general negativity of nuclear energy to other clean forms of energy, I thought that the answer to this question was a yes. One student in my class also decided to bring up the threat of a failure of one of the reactors, even though there have only been two major threats, one of which posed a serious health risk. I can't help but feel that this negativity to nuclear energy stems not only from the Chernobyl accident, but as well as the perceived threat of a nuclear World War III with Russia.
So, my question to you, fellow users of the Escapist, is simple: do we still live with an outdated mentality that dates from the threat of nuclear Armageddon from the Cold War?
Please note, that, as an American, I ask this from an American standpoint. I do not know what other mentalities were held by other countries during this time. If you had the same mentality as the one I listed here, feel free to comment on that; otherwise, feel free to give comments from an outsider's perspective.
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Source:
[1] World Nuclear Association. Nuclear Power in France. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html. Accessed 20 October 2009.
The first response to this was "Yeah, because nukes are great for the environment."
Although I know that nuclear energy isn't necessarily a "clean" energy source due to the production of plutonium and other radioactive materials (some of which can be used to power long-range NASA spacecraft), I was still contested by my classmates, who stated that we should still pursue more plants that generate electricity through either wind or solar means, despite my claims that nuclear energy was far more efficient. Once I got out of class, I started thinking about this topic, and I reached a possible conclusion as to why I was one of the few to support nuclear energy: do we still have a collective mentality that is an artifact of the Cold War era?
Thinking back to the general negativity of nuclear energy to other clean forms of energy, I thought that the answer to this question was a yes. One student in my class also decided to bring up the threat of a failure of one of the reactors, even though there have only been two major threats, one of which posed a serious health risk. I can't help but feel that this negativity to nuclear energy stems not only from the Chernobyl accident, but as well as the perceived threat of a nuclear World War III with Russia.
So, my question to you, fellow users of the Escapist, is simple: do we still live with an outdated mentality that dates from the threat of nuclear Armageddon from the Cold War?
Please note, that, as an American, I ask this from an American standpoint. I do not know what other mentalities were held by other countries during this time. If you had the same mentality as the one I listed here, feel free to comment on that; otherwise, feel free to give comments from an outsider's perspective.
------------------
Source:
[1] World Nuclear Association. Nuclear Power in France. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf40.html. Accessed 20 October 2009.
). However, the cold war mindset was mostly brought around from not only a fear of nuclear war, but a fear that communism would take over America, do you still have that fear? I mean that in the sense of yes we know that nuclear war is possible, but considering that the word nuke isn't taboo anymore I believe we are pretty much over our cold war mentality. I could be wrong though.
