California is currently 100% nuclear free at present, thanks to Nature and serendipity for yet another gentle reminder of just how perilous our situation really is.
California is currently 100% nuclear free at present, thanks to Nature and serendipity for yet another gentle reminder of just how perilous our situation really is. How would it feel to not have to worry about an impossible evacuation plan, or genetic mutations, or contaminated food and water supplies, or cancer cells lurking deep within, or even property values soaring to zero? The fact that both of our nuclear power plants are down now is revealing.
We don’t need nuclear power and the closer we get to the summer months the more we’ll be misled into thinking we will have devastating blackouts. With temporary use of the natural gas plant at Huntington Beach, only on an as-needed basis, we can cover any shortage. The grid expansion currently nearing completion will also be bringing abundant energy to where it is needed most.
I have a proposition. Since we are experimenting, one way or another, with the choices we make regarding nuclear power in California let?s do a different kind of experiment. Let’s intentionally keep both nuclear power plants shutdown through the summer. They are both down now and there are no shortages. How hard would it be to conserve enough to make up for any conceivable demands we might anticipate?
In the past, incentive programs not only conserved as much as 20% in electrical demands, it simultaneously saved 20% in costs. Rather than experiment with our lives, why don’t we just see if we have any blackouts. That is an experiment we can live with. If we don?t have any major problems, then I?d say it was game over for nuclear power in California. We could immediately redirect over $800 million dollars from steam generator replacements and seismic studies and aim those funds towards research and development of new green technologies and provide incentives for investments in these industries. Add to it all the subsidies currently going to the oil industry and we could easily make the transition to a sustainable future.