I’m a bit of a greenie, so I’m all for reducing our dependence on oil & coal. I’m also not a total idiot and I know that wind & solar are not going to be able to provide for our energy needs anytime in the near future. Therefore, I think we need to focus on nuclear power, both the existing fission technologies, and the developing fission & fusion technologies.
Jerry Taylor over at Cato thinks nuclear is a no-go since it needs major government support in order to get going (i.e. nuclear would be a non-starter in a free market). He’s probably right, but there are a lot of businesses that need or enjoy government subsidies, including natural gas & coal. Rod Adams, a pro-nuclear activist, has something to say about that.
Personally, I think the era of the big nuclear plants is on the way out, to be replaced by smaller, modular reactors & travelling wave reactors.
UPDATE:
I’d like to see some of those MIT/South African designed pebble-bed reactors get built sometime soon.
Betcher ass I’d go back into nuclear power if they were building them around here.
As it is, my choices are NJ, Nebraska or Australia, and no thank you to each of those.