Enlight21

Author: Gladwyn d'Souza | Category: Business & Economy | Environment & Nature | Health & Medicine | Politics National | Politics International | Science & Technology | Date: 08-24-2022

The Associated Press reports, “hunger stones” warning of drought-induced hardships have started surfacing in the Czech Republic. Meanwhile France has the majority of it’s 56 reactors throttled down or offline due to a combination of scheduled maintenance, erosion damage (worryingly at the newer plants of the ageing fleet) and cooling water shortages due to recurring heat waves and droughts! Europe is stressed, as the power cut backs come on the heels of Russian gas restrictions. Nuclear power makes up 72% of the French grid and was supplied to much of industrial Europe.

France’s nukes show it’s not a climate solution needed to cool a rapidly heating planet given nuclear's vulnerability to climate change. Ukraine is showing that nuclear is not a solution to anything as some of the largest plants in Europe face bombing and shelling in war with Russia! China another nuclear superpower with 50 plants is also undergoing power cutbacks which are now expected to further exacerbate supply chain issues as reported by Bloomberg.

Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, France and the USA remain captive to the human rights abuses and environmental degradation of nuclear. Long before Standing Rock native tribes had apposed the heatlh degradation of nuclear mining on their reservations. Today human rights abuses to disposable people by nuclear powers manifest themselves in degraded lands from Niger to the Navajo reservation.

Yet policy makers continue to worship at the alter of nuclear suicide. China has 17 new nuclear plants under construction as reported on Wikipedia. France is moving ahead with plans for neighborhood sized small nuclear plants. And here Governor Newsom this week proposed a $1.4B bailout of PG&E troubled Diablo nuclear plant in order to keep it operational through 2035.

Given it’s cost, health hazards, proliferation and disaster potential you would have thought policy makers would have put alternatives to nuclear in place long ago. Fortunately the legislature has seen the writing on the Czech Republic’s rocks. The AP reported that  “A proposal circulated Friday by California Democratic legislators would reject Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to extend the lifespan of the state’s last operating nuclear power plant — and instead spend over $1 billion to speed up the development of renewable energy, new transmission lines and storage to maintain reliable power in the climate change era.” Money would also go into heat pump conversion of water and cooling systems as well as being targeted for low income housing clean energy upgrades.

To quote Mark Jacobson at Stanford, “Nuclear is just not part of any feasible strategy that could counter climate change.” It is just another crisis to add to the climate crisis. Kudos to the legislature for recognizing the writing on the rocks.

Animals Art Books Business & E... Crime & Myst... Education Entertainmen... Environment ... Food & Resta... Health & Med... Human Intere... Movies & TV Opinions & E... Pacifica Poetry Politics Int... Politics Nat... Psychology &... Religion Science & Te... Society & Li... Sports Travel