Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Yesterday I believe will go down in history as one of the most significant for mankind. Whilst most citizens of the developed and developing world’s do not realise this yet, the future course of the human global energy system has just changed course with potentially far reaching consequences for human civilisation.
There are greener, cheaper, more secure, quicker to install, safer alternatives to new nuclear so don’t let yourself be persuaded that it’s the only solution. It’s not.
– NYT: Reactor Design in Japan Has Long Been Questioned
– Nuclear power: when the answer becomes the problem
– What will spark the next Fukushima?
– Nuclear power: After the flood
Hokusai’s famous 1820 painting of fishing boats battling through The Great Wave portrays a distinctly Japanese awareness of the vulnerability of human life amidst the tremendous forces of nature. In Shrine Shinto, the main Japanese Shinto tradition, certain places are held to be particularly sacred, where the ordinary and the everyday interact with the divine. But, needless to say, in modern secular times this ancient Shinto wisdom of respect for the sacred and for the power of nature has not been permitted to stand in the way of industrial progress.
A weekly roundup of peak oil news, including:
-Oil and the global economy
-The earthquake
-Quote of the week
In the wake of the Japanese nuclear debacle, we need a practical and affordable clean electricity plan that does not rely on new nuclear power. This article presents just such a Plan. New nuclear is absent from the Plan not because of any safety concern, but simply because it fails the “practical and affordable” test. President Obama called for “80% Clean Energy” by 2035. This Plan presents how we can do it right.
– Japanese Scramble to Avert Meltdowns as Nuclear Crisis Deepens After Quake
– Meltdowns Grow More Likely at the Fukushima Reactors
– US lawmakers say go slow on nuclear energy
– Japan nuclear fears as systems fail at second reactor
– Nuclear plant issues in Japan are the least of their worries
– Background
– More links at TOD
We need to evaluate the potential for a nuclear future in light of the disaster in Japan. This was not unpredictable, and should have been accounted for in any realistic assessment of nuclear potential. It cannot realistically be described as a black swan event.
Human behaviour can easily turn what should be a one in one hundred thousand reactor-year event in to something all too likely within a human lifespan. Nuclear power may allow us to cushion the coming decline in fossil fuel availability, but only at a potentially very high price. (Excerpts)
-Japan battles to contain nuclear crisis after huge quake
– On the Brink of Meltdown: The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
– 2 Japanese plants struggling to cool radioactive material
– Spent nuclear fuel; more opportunity than threat
NASA climatologist James Hansen’s book, just out in paperback, is a fascinating look at his crusade to get America a rational climate policy before it’s too late. He wants to levy a carbon tax, entirely phase out coal and leave unconventional fossil fuels in the ground. But he also likes nuclear power. Reactor meltdown on Hansen Island?
Fred Upton been much in the news of late as chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives. He told us as recently as April 24, 2009 that “climate change is a serious problem that necessitates serious solutions.” But now that he has finally gotten a little power, he has contracted selective science disorder.
Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi hinted this week that OPEC might move to increase oil production to satisfy rising demand. Both OPEC and the IEA are anticipating demand growth this year, and with Brent crude close to $100/barrel the pressure on OPEC is growing…Many of the OPEC nations face serious threats of their own as they struggle to generate jobs for their growing populations. No doubt the house of Saud and other OPEC leaders will be casting a wary eye at the recent uprising in Tunisia and the riots in Egypt.
