Barely an hour ago, I tweeted:
After the BP oil spill they were against oil. Now they're against nuclear power. We need to learn the right lessons! http://econ.st/fkEEvB
And for those who are wondering what I meant by the "right lessons" ... here's what I was referring to:
1. More robust controls on, and better risk management of, conventional (including nuclear) energy sources/ plants/ installations
2. Better disaster management infrastructure, systems and processes around high-risk areas
3. Development of technologies and procedures that help clean-up harmful effects of conventional energy sources in the event of a disaster (or even otherwise)
4. Development of inexpensive "clean" technologies that harness renewable energy sources and development of the business ecosystem and industry supply chain around the same
5. Development of technologies that conserve energy (fuel/ power) consumption and reduce wastage, and are built-into new versions/ models of existing product lines
6. Spreading a culture of moderation in the worldwide consumption - direct as well as indirect - of energy (i.e. avoiding extravagant consumption and wastage in general)
I am not an expert in this field, but I know enough about it to know that each of the above "sustainability imperatives", as I'd like to call them, is profound enough to call for more detailed study. I am not qualified to go into that here. But they are all directionally sound guiding principles, and where they point to is where we should be headed. Trouble is, each of them needs far more investment in R&D in terms of time, energy and funding, than is currently being pumped in. To me, that's the single biggest lesson we must learn from the tragic nuclear crisis in Japan, rather than indulge in reactionary rhetoric based more on emotions than on facts.
More power to clean energy!
P.S. An appeal - There're a few signature campaigns going around, aiming to petition concerned authorities against nuclear energy. I don't have a quarrel with those, but what I know about the 'state of the art' in civil nuclear technology is not enough to make me agree with those petitions. My post here is not a petition or a signature campaign, it's just a simple blog post that shares my perspective on this matter. But if this post made sense to you, or at least got you thinking (or affirmed your pre-existing thought process) along these lines, then please pass it around, with your comments in the comment field below. Not to popularize my blog (thank you), but because we need more and better public discourse on this subject before we form a critical mass of informed opinion.
