No Nukes!  

TomPaine.com says No Nukes!. The article discusses the drawbacks of nuclear power and explains how large-scale plants are going to go the way of the dinosaur (or should that be gas guzzler), as the future of energy generation has to be based on small-scale, distributed generation model.

Bush’s second term will include many historic decisions, but none may be more detrimental for long-term American prosperity—and go as quietly unnoticed—than a large-scale federal commitment to nuclear power.

The nuclear industry has launched a concerted campaign that, if successful, would allow the two halves of the energy industry—oilmen and power companies—to preserve their market dominance. That’s dangerous. Preserving the energy status quo will cripple any chance that America will escape from our debt-ridden consumer economy. For America to both grasp the emerging vision of a more equitable and prosperous “innovation economy” and achieve true energy independence, this nuclear assault must be stopped.

The new year saw the launch of a well-orchestrated, multi-pronged campaign calling for America to end its dependence on oil through massive federal investments in nuclear energy. On Jan. 1, the American Enterprise Institute published an article ominously entitled,“The Solution,” by William Tucker. In the February issue of Wired Magazine , Global Business Network president Peter Schwartz echoed the same argument, but geared toward that magazine’s more libertarian and tech-savvy readers.

Good luck to them - but I think as long as the large, ugly, polluting industries remain in control of the US government the nuclear juggernaut is going to keep picking up steam (along with the equally repulsive, and equally problematic, attempts to start drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve - I believe the recent budget handed down included US$2.5 billion of anticipated drilling licence revenues from the ANWR, which is as clear a signal as you can get as to what is about to happen).