Okay I got into an argument with someone the other night over the idea that it's our turn to cause an ecological disaster to benefit our time on the planet to make our lives better and easier and let someone else worry about cleaning up the mess later.
My argument was this, we should be allowed to do whatever we want with nuclear power generation and not care about the waste or byproducts of the power generation so that we can transition off fossil fuels.
Thier counter was we can't be reckless assholes with nuclear power generation and that it's not the same as oil extraction or fossil fuel power plants because of the radioactive stuff.
I thought this was an incredibly short sighted view on the impact of fossil fuel extraction and fossil fuel power generation has had and how destructive it has been.
While I do agree there are some really bad issues with nuclear. Do we create a big waste problem for people after us? sure. Is it probably going to kill people in the future? sure. Could it cause ecological disasters? sure.
I dunno I get that power generation is only a part of the issue with climate but feels like we are just being bullied by old boomer hippies to not use all the things we have available to us.
Perhaps I have in my mind already convinced myself that we are bleeding out and that while nuclear power won't save our leg it could be the tourniquet to push us over the hump into cleaner power generation from wind/solar/water etc.
So shouldn't we be allowed to kick the can down the road like the last generations did?
I think nuclear power is easier to do correctly than fossil fuels. In a well ordered economy, nuclear power plants would be well built and well maintained, and nuclear waste would be safely placed in some Yucca mountain type of facility. So there wouldn't be very much risk to future generations. Of course, they might get a hold of the nuclear waste somehow, or nuclear accidents might happen, but it's still a lot different than screwing over our children by burning every bit of hydrocarbon we can find and dumping the carbon into the atmosphere.
That's your mistake
Sure, but wouldn't multiply Chernobyls be better for our future than more fossil fuels? At least with Chernobyl people only had to relocate a shortish distance.
yes, unironically nuclear disasters are less bad for the biosphere than global warming is
Chernobyl also gave us the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and that good sniper mission from Call of Duty. Personally, I'm okay with that exchange.
while it for sure was more then just relocation for those affected, I agree that perhaps the impact of fossil fuels has been much worse then this or Fukushima.