To: Editor, LA Times From: Russell Hoffman, Concerned Citizen / Activist Re: A response to Bertram Wolfe's commentary in the LA Times, Sept. 18th, 2000 Date: September 22nd, 2000 To The Editor: Bertram Wolfe's commentary (shown below) in your paper shows a deep-rooted bias commensurate with his title as a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society. But a more balanced look at the issues shows that nuclear is not a solution to any presumed or supposed energy scarcity, nor is it a solution to the problem of global warming. Indeed, following the nuclear dream any further is shortsighted and dangerous thinking. It's a proven failure. The correct solutions are sustainable and renewable. Such energy sources include both solar and wind, each of which was dismissed as inadequate by Mr Wolfe, but either of which could in fact, with a concerted effort to build the generating capabilities, solve our energy problems. And add to those two the many other clean energy solutions we could be investing in: tidal, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, wave, Ocean Thermal Gradient, and many other solutions. The world is a garden of energy. Conservation, and a global energy grid (see www.geni.org) to move the energy to where it's needed at any time, from any source, are additional tools society needs to employ to solve its energy problems. Nuclear, coal, and oil "solutions" only create more problems than they solve, as they use up our natural resources in poorly-planned and inefficient ways, and pollute our environment. Simple conservation measures alone would allow us to close all the nuclear power plants currently running. As to Mr. Wolfe's claim that the problem for nuclear power's growth in the United States is that it is burdened with "unnecessary bureaucratic and legal impediments", that is specious at best, and misleading. Perhaps our power plants are somewhat better regulated than those in some third-world countries, whose leaders were sold on the fictitious safety and efficiency of the nuke plants by U.S. corporate representatives, and by our own government's nuclear lackeys, and where countless bribes have been paid along the way. But if our nukes are somewhat safer because they are somewhat better regulated, that's a GOOD thing for the American public, who are being placed at terrific risk and who gain nothing from these monstrosities. The risks include the dangers from meltdowns, jet planes crashing into them, fuel transportation accidents, terrorists, targets of war, etc. etc. etc. Leaky valves. Asteroids. You-name-it, nukes are vulnerable to it. The gains were supposed to be cheap energy for society, but even that lofty goal never materialized. Nukes have been and will continue to be a financial failure, propped up by decades of government support and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars. The only real impediment to nuclear energy is the logic of other, cleaner, cheaper and less vulnerable energy solutions. The facts about nuclear energy's costs and dangers spell the death-blow for the colossal nuclear mistake society has made. The public has by and large been against nuclear power from the start, despite government efforts to sway public opinion to the contrary. Now we are more fed up than ever with all the accidents, intentional discharges, sunken subs, and so forth -- and the lies, censorship and propaganda campaigns that have accompanied the nuclear solution. Nuclear power is destroying itself with every accident, and every accident is one accident too many. Sincerely, Russell Hoffman Concerned Citizen, Activist Carlsbad, California attachment: Bertram Wolfe's original commentary in the LA Times, my contact information and suggested URLs ******************************************************** Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 20:30:32 EDT Subject: Article that appeared in Los Angeles Times To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Monday, September 18, 2000 Nuclear Power Is the Answer to Energy Scarcity By BERTRAM WOLFE In the next half-century there is a projected increase of world population from 6 billion to 10 billion people. If the 10 billion people use an average of only one-third the energy per person used today in the U.S., then there will be a tripling of world energy use. We face the possibility of international hostilities over scarce oil and gas supplies and possible disasters from global warming because of fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions. It is hoped that none of these will happen. Maybe we'll find unlimited cheap fossil fuel supplies, and maybe global warming won't take place. But should we relax and wait to see what happens, or should we take actions that can mitigate the projected calamities? If such future energy crises prove real, there is only one available solution. Solar and wind power cannot meet the large new energy needs. A solar or wind plant with the same output as a few-acre coal or nuclear plant requires about a hundred square miles of land, leading to environmental problems and excessive costs. It's hoped that fusion will be developed in a few decades, but that cannot be counted on. Perhaps some new source like cold fusion will be developed, but again one can't count on it. The only available solution to the projected energy problems is a worldwide expansion of nuclear energy, which can provide almost unlimited energy supplies and emits no atmospheric contamination. With the rising costs of fossil fuels, nuclear energy will be the most economical energy source. Indeed, with just the increased cost of natural gas today, a new U.S. nuclear plant could be competitive here, as it is abroad. But in this country, unnecessary bureaucratic and legal impediments can prevent the economical construction of a new nuclear plant. U.S. companies build nuclear plants abroad in four years, whereas it has taken 10 to 20 years to build them here, with a doubling to quadrupling of costs. The government has changed its licensing procedures to eliminate the unnecessary delays, but the new system has not been demonstrated. The public has been frightened of nuclear energy by anti-nuclear rhetoric, but it has not received perspective views. Not a single member of the public has been harmed by peaceful nuclear energy plants, including Three Mile Island, or by nuclear wastes or their transportation that meet U.S. and Western standards. Chernobyl would not have been permitted here; and the Russians are adopting Western safety standards at their sites. Like all human endeavors, nuclear energy has its risks, but with U.S. standards they are small compared potential fossil fuel explosions and emissions. The major nuclear energy problems are not technical, but political. California's proposed Ward Valley low-level nuclear waste repository, which was studied and approved by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and by California and federal organizations, has been held up politically. Similarly, Yucca Mountain, the high-level waste repository in Nevada, was delayed for years by anti-nuclear groups that prevented the start of exploration. There are no basic technical problems that would prevent the safe storage of nuclear wastes in either of these facilities. Indeed, President Clinton's recent veto of the congressional bill to allow centralized above-ground storage at Yucca Mountain while the underground storage facility is being completed is clearly a political action that unnecessarily leads to many more costly above-ground storage facilities. Nuclear energy may be vital to U.S. and the world's future welfare. But even if the projected fossil fuel calamities turn out not to be real, nuclear energy will benefit us. Its use will prevent deaths occurring now from breathing fossil fuel emissions. It will extend the availability of fossil fuels for special needs. We worry about nuclear wastes 10,000 years out, but without nuclear energy, how will fossil fuels be available in the next century? Our government should remove the unnecessary impediments to nuclear energy. It should speed the development of our waste repositories. Perhaps most important, it should immediately demonstrate that our licensing system now matches those abroad and that in the U.S. we too can build economical nuclear energy plants in a timely way. Considering the expected anti-nuclear court cases, what private enterprise would risk billions of dollars to test the new licensing system without a demonstration that it works? Let us hope that we do not lose our nuclear energy capability, as is now happening. Indeed, let us hope that in the future, when the need becomes urgent, we will be able to meet our energy needs without having to import nuclear plants from abroad. - - - Bertram Wolfe, a Physicist and Engineer, Is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society ___________________ ***************************************************** ************************************************************* Russell D. Hoffman, Carlsbad, California Petition against nuclear energy, for sustainable energy: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/petition/sustain.htm Peace Activist, Environmentalist, High Tech Guru: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/whoisrdh.htm Founder and Editor of the Stop Cassini newsletter: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/index.htm Learn the madness of NASA's ongoing nuclear policies! Visit the Stop Cassini web site: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/cassini.htm Learn about The Effects of Nuclear War here: http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm What is a half-life? (Compares Plutonium 238 to Plutonium 239) http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0146.htm What is the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)? Is nuclear war winnable? http://www.animatedsoftware.com/cassini/nltrs/nltr0128.htm Hug a tree! 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