Tyler Hamilton’s latest editorial in the Toronto Star expresses much the same arguments as I have always used in discussions over nuclear power generation. Economics rather than environmental concerns.
Yes, there are legitimate environmental concerns with nuclear power generation (toxic waste and uranium mining come to mind) and, despite reports to the contrary, nuclear is NOT a zero greenhouse gas process due to mining and processing, but these can come down to a value judgement against some other distateful alternatives. It is far easier to argue against nuclear from an economic standpoint since the numbers don’t come close to adding up.
In this podcast, Tyler Hamilton talks with American environmentalist and physicist Amory Lovins, chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Institute, about Ontario’s decision to build new nuclear reactors and why the strategy is filled with risk. Lovins says improving energy-efficiency in the province and embracing “micropower” is a cheaper and quicker way to go.
