Quote:
Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
shakran, we could have had a much larger and safer infrastructure of cleaner nuclear power in the same league and realm of France's power grid. Too many NIMBYs in the 70s and 80s.
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And we're still having a problem figuring out what to do with the waste of the plants we do have. We shouldn't make more waste until we can get rid of the stuff we already made. Once you tell me how to do that (and preferably in ways that do not require coming up with symbols for danger that theoretical future civilizations tens of thousands of years in the future can interpret so THEY don't die from it (
An Alert Unlike Any Other - Los Angeles Times ) and without having to design buildings to meet a code that requires they last a million years (
EPA Expected to Issue Million-Year-Long Regulation : NPR ) then I'm all for nuclear power. But to charge full speed ahead without knowing the solutions to these significant problems is foolhardy.
As to your other points, those industries that aren't polluting as much anymore are either doing it because they had to in order to comply with regulations, or because it is a side-effect of new manufacturing processes designed to economize. They certainly didn't do it out of a sense of stewardship to the planet.