Thursday, September 12, 2019
Opposing viewpoints debate in USA Today on nuclear power barely masks bigger problem of power grid security and technology dependence
I’ve written a few pieces on the safety and security
of the power grid on various platforms, including one on Medium, which was
linked to here on Aug 30, 2018.
USA Today sponsored an “opposing viewpoints” debate on
whether nuclear power should continue to be used indefinitely as part of a
strategy for climate change, with the newspaper agreeing with Sen. Cory Booker,
link here. The article sublinks to the opposing viewpoint.
There seems to be a fundamental disagreement as to whether
maintaining a power grid with renewable sources without nuclear is
possible.
One could imagine upscaling the responsibility of
homeowners and property owners to provide their own power in a decentralized
manner with solar panels and turbines, but those might require more raw
materials than are realistic.
Taylor Wilson, the scientist at the University of
Nevada who built a proof-of-concept fusion reactor as a teenager, has advocated
small underground mini fission reactors as a strategy until fusion is
possible. It appears that such a
strategy could make the nation much more immune to possible EMP warfare in the
future, even in dealing with enemies like North Korea.
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