The next time someone declares how much we NEED nuclear power as a “green alternative” to carbon-based fuels, at the very least as a “bridge” to a zero-carbon future, you may be forgiven if you hold up both your hands and say: “ACHTUNG!”
You may then reply to their puzzled look by suggesting that the United States is positioning itself to spend the next 50 years as a CONSUMER instead of PRODUCER, compelled to buy new technology and expertise and supplies from countries like Germany, instead of making it ourselves.
Why? Jump ahead for a glance at what’s cooking in Germany.
First, here’s my quick take on the domestic answer to that “Why?”
Because we remain extremely sluggish in our movement to alter the U.S. Energy Policy from “Our energy policy is whatever the Coal, Oil, Nuclear, and Gas corporations and their banksters want to do” to something more along the lines of “Our energy policy is geared to a future where American innovation and imagination, research and development, care for climate and stewardship of environment; are led and inspired by federal government policy, investment, and enforcement that enshrine the public interest and enact initiatives for safe, clean, locally-appropriate, independence-protecting and interdependence-based electricity, transportation, manufacturing, information, agriculture, cooking, heating and cooling systems."
We in the U.S. are stuck with the crappy old 20th century energy infrastructure. Worse still, we are chained by the crappy old 20th century government that enables, protects, indulges, and entrenches that destructive infrastructure.
Meanwhile in Germany... Achtung!
“The German energy transformation is as challenging as the first moon landing,” said Peter Terium, who in July takes over as chief executive officer of RWE, Germany’s second-largest utility. “It’s a huge challenge we’ll be able to master only if everyone works together.”
Will it be risky?
Achtung:
It will cost German consumers even more than they pay now – some analysts say as much as 60% more. It holds captive the survival of a government, political careers, industrial prospects, and continental-wide financial policy.
What are the rewards? Among them, we see German corporations aligning with the federal government so as not to miss out on this bold, inspiring enterprise.
Achtung:
Germany's plan is seen by some as an economic gamble, but many traditional energy companies -- including nuclear power companies -- are now lining up to invest in the strategic plan. One financial and energy analyst observed the plan would would make Germany's energy market, the most important in Europe, "into a massive energy laboratory."
See that? German President Merkel doesn’t ask the old-line energy companies what they want to do. She sets the goals. Her party establishes the milestones and timetable, crafts the policies and mandates, forges the civil machinery to fund, monitor and support the program.
Together, Merkel and her party capture the unmistakable public spirit of the times. The corporations line up.
Yes, our government in the U.S. is fractured. Our hangover from the 20-double-0s is real, painful, and oppressive. But we are Americans! Since when do we give up on being world leaders?
According to Churchill, the Americans always do the right thing -- after they try everything else. People, are we just about winding down the phase where we “try everything else?” Can we please get on with the 21st century, for Pete’s sake!
Please note that we, our kids and our grandkids will be paying through the nose for the “hidden” costs of our old, closing-down nukes for a long, long, unproductive time to come:
The operators of 20 of the nation’s aging nuclear reactors, including some whose licenses expire soon, have not saved nearly enough money for prompt and proper dismantling. If it turns out that they must close, the owners intend to let them sit like industrial relics for 20 to 60 years or even longer while interest accrues in the reactors’ retirement accounts.
...
The cost is projected at $400 million to $1 billion per reactor, which in some cases is more than what it cost to build the plants in the 1960s and ’70s.
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And the commission’s staff said that even 60 years was not a hard-and-fast outer time limit for suspending a reactor’s operations.
Finally, to sum up: Keystone BAD, Fracking BAD, Coal-Oil-Nukes-Gas need to go out of style a whole lot faster -- and let's get on with our Faster Green Energy Future ACHTUNG!
Resources:
http://www.nukefree.org/
http://getenergysmartnow.com/
http://a-siegel.dailykos.com/...
http://fairewinds.com/
http://www.solartopia.org/
http://www.nukewatch.org/
http://ilovemountains.org/
http://cleanwaternotdirtydrilling.org/
http://www.greenpeace.org/...
http://www.350.org/