Is All Well?

Global 'Oil Shock' Rattles World Stock Markets

If the USA is ever to have a trustworthy nuclear energy program we will have to have a paradigm shift in order for the public to have confidence in such a venture. Let’s get with it.

Purple Neon Lights (see discussion above) states that

“France generates somewhere from 70-90% of their energy from nuclear (which Germany quietly buys - quietly! - because their rank and file pooh-poohs nuclear as "not green.")”..,…“What is holding us back is ignorance.”

The operation of nuclear energy in France is indeed a remarkable testimony to France’s ingenuity and integrity to its populace. Imagine! France can have a different approach to life, one that works.

As I understand it, the design of all nuclear power plants in France is based on one design that was adopted by a team of eminent scientists as the concensus best approach to safe nuclear practice. Because a standard, agreed upon design permeates the industry, the staff at one plant, say in the Alps, can immediately fill in for someone at any other plant in the country, perhaps in Brittany, without losing a step, if need be like a flu epidemic. One nuclear plant can call another and discuss any issue knowing that the console and works are identical in design and operation. Is this conceivable in our hyper-capitalist approach to energy? How many manufacturers of nuclear power plants have we in the US had?

The US still currently has the world’s largest cadre of innovative scientific and engineering minds. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is as close to a body of principled men and women of integrity That we possess. They would be genuinely pleased to evaluate and recommend a design framework upon which we can develop a nuclear power industry that people might be willing to support. To be certain, these NAS members are only human and susceptible to human foibles, but I would dare say that they are probably more trustworthy than politicians and businesses who are servants to the profit motive.

Perhaps we could have a leader who says that reasonably-priced energy is an inalienable right that every US citizen deserves and advocatesthe use of the NAS to promote the development of a nuclear power industry for the common good. One that is not there to make money but to provide the nation’s people and businesses a resource to grow by. The power provided would not be free, and even could be a moderately profit making enterprise…the profits of which would go into social security and medical care needs that are needed to have a truly productive society. This approach certainly does not preclude using the considerable expertise available in industry’s employ. Essentially, this would be a “Manhattan Project”-like venture where every resource inside the country can be tapped for the country’s survival.

I, for one, would vote for a candidate of such broad vision. I suspect that the entrenched powers(aka parties)-that-be would go ballistic at such an idea. In my opinion, greed and incompetence will continue to undermine our nation’s economy until we take some steps to restore accountability (different than regulation) to our country. And I don’t mean the currently fashionable “I accept responsibility” statement which is uttered by every politician who finds himself/herself in an uncomfortable place. Accountability is not a media mea culpa.

Hopefully all will be well one day.