Monday 23 April 2012

Nuclear phaseout or global warming disaster

OK, so it has been about a year since Germany's nuclear power phaseout, it is becoming clear more than ever that only with maintaining existing reactors and working on advancing next-generation nuclear technology to help with anti-carbon policies for years to come, can the carbon emissions goals be met or even exceeded... http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/phasing-out-nuclear/2012/04/22/gIQArSXbaT_story.html ... it is interesting that the support for nuclear power is also coming from an unlikely source: environmentalists, see: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-fg-germany-nuclear-20120421,0,2597402.story "To make up for the lost nuclear power, which supplied 22% of Germany's electricity before the phaseout began, the country has increased its reliance on brown coal, a particularly high emitter of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and a major contributor to global warming. Brown coal now supplies 25% of Germany's electricity, up from 23% a year ago.
Previously a net exporter of electricity, Germany now imports as much electricity as it sells abroad. Removing so much German electricity from the market has benefited power companies in neighboring countries that rely heavily on coal and nuclear power, thereby undermining Germany's environmental goals and its nuclear safety concerns."

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