I read an article yesterday in The Hindu called 'Why Kudankulam is untenable' by Suvrat Raju and M.V Ramana. I've never heard of them, but they seemed so sure that the Kudankulam plant should be scrapped. They even went so far as to say that India doesn't need nuclear power. What crap. Okay, may be nuclear reactors in India don't produce as much power as promised. But the potential still exists. Actually, we're not able to produce much power from nuclear energy because we don't know how to use it more efficiently. How're countries like France and Lithuania(Lithuania at that!) able to generate as much as 78% of their electricity from nuclear sources? Obviously, they have/know something we don't. And instead of trying to figure out what that is, we're sitting and talking about shutting the whole thing down. It doesn't make sense at all.
BUT(a big one)you can't say the whole nuclear thing's safe either. Fukushima's taught us that. When one of the world's most technologically advanced countries(Japan, if you don't know) faced destruction from a nuclear power plant, I think there's something to be said for the phrase 'playing it safe'. So what's the Dark Side of Nuclear Energy? It could kill us all, period. Either all at the same time(like Chernobyl), or through other means(like slow radiation, marine/air/soil pollution, etc.) End result? We die in both cases. I guess the only debatable point is whether it's better to die a slow, painful death or die all at once. And who wants to get into that debate?
So what's the last word on the subject? Obviously, as many people have pointed out already, India can't just scrap the entire nuclear thing. I mean, come one! If we do that, not only will we be making ourselves vulnerable to other countries like Pakistan, China and the US, but we'd also be contributing much, MUCH more to global warming! Think about it. If we give up nuclear power, we're giving up one of the very few alternative energy sources we've got left! We'd be burning up fossil fuels faster than ever. And the suggested altternative to the Kudankulam plant is ridiculous. A thermal power plant it seems. Way to save the earth people!
So what I'm saying is, look at both sides of the coin. It's time to accept facts. Either we don't have the know-how to make nuclear energy more viable or we just can't do it, for some reason. So let's find a way to make it viable! And for god's sake, it goes without saying that safety regulations should be followed. AND proper places to dump the waste. No, I'm NOT talking about the sea! So figure out the solution to all the problems that nuclear energy faces and THEN start building plants. No need to scrap the thing, no need to use it without knowing how to, either.
BUT(a big one)you can't say the whole nuclear thing's safe either. Fukushima's taught us that. When one of the world's most technologically advanced countries(Japan, if you don't know) faced destruction from a nuclear power plant, I think there's something to be said for the phrase 'playing it safe'. So what's the Dark Side of Nuclear Energy? It could kill us all, period. Either all at the same time(like Chernobyl), or through other means(like slow radiation, marine/air/soil pollution, etc.) End result? We die in both cases. I guess the only debatable point is whether it's better to die a slow, painful death or die all at once. And who wants to get into that debate?
So what's the last word on the subject? Obviously, as many people have pointed out already, India can't just scrap the entire nuclear thing. I mean, come one! If we do that, not only will we be making ourselves vulnerable to other countries like Pakistan, China and the US, but we'd also be contributing much, MUCH more to global warming! Think about it. If we give up nuclear power, we're giving up one of the very few alternative energy sources we've got left! We'd be burning up fossil fuels faster than ever. And the suggested altternative to the Kudankulam plant is ridiculous. A thermal power plant it seems. Way to save the earth people!
So what I'm saying is, look at both sides of the coin. It's time to accept facts. Either we don't have the know-how to make nuclear energy more viable or we just can't do it, for some reason. So let's find a way to make it viable! And for god's sake, it goes without saying that safety regulations should be followed. AND proper places to dump the waste. No, I'm NOT talking about the sea! So figure out the solution to all the problems that nuclear energy faces and THEN start building plants. No need to scrap the thing, no need to use it without knowing how to, either.
Comments
This blog is boring. Like your face.