Nuclear Ascendance?

Yesterday I argued that green technology was a solution to the problem of ecosystem depletion, especially in the developing countries.

But what is the role of nuclear power?

There’s a very interesting article in the Winter 2005 issue of the City Journal by Peter W. Huber and Mark P. Mills that argues that there’s an inevitable and unavoidable place for nuclear power, even in the developed world, which will see its electricity demands increase by 20 to 30 percent in the next decade.

“No conceivable mix of solar and wind could come close to supplying the trillions of additional kilowatt-hours of power we’ll soon need,” they argue.

Serious Greens must face reality, they write, and get over their fear of all things nuclear, especially the nuclear waste storage issue: “For economic, ecological, and geopolitical reasons, U.S. policymakers ought to promote electrification on the demand side, and nuclear fuel on the supply side, wherever they reasonably can.”

(Hat tip to Roger Pielke Jr.)