But I looked into it, and it turns out that there aren't a lot of accidents - the Russian one happened due to massive failure at every level, so as long as we prepare against that...?

And the waste isn't as bad as we think, at least from my reading - the waste that comes out of a factory can be stored in a shoe-box - it's small ammounts, and they are currently burrying it in a concrete vault way underneath Nevada, though I'm thinking that's going to come back to bite us in the future, and am all for throwing it in the sun.

Now, as for private business - I am with Jodi on this one 100% - let us be perfectly clear - the free market only cares about making more money, and things like skilled workers and safety measures only cut into the bottom line, so I'd have to say that I would not trust private enterprise to handle nuclear energy.

And then, the next step to that is, having the government run it, which I would feel safe about, but then it would cause serious hurt to the private energy companies, since nuclear power is so much cheaper. So they would launch a campaign to stop nuclear energy that would make the fake outrage over health care and the phoney tea-baggings and the mock outrage all look like a second grade school play.

And, no matter who is on guard at the plant, how do we deal with human error? No one is a professional anymore - America has gone out of it's way to become dumber and lazier in my lifetime. When I was a kid - even in hippy liberal San Francisco, you wouldn't dream of seeing some toothless hillbilly methhead walking around the whulmurt in their PJs, picking at open scabs and letting flies buzz in and out of their beer-drenched gaping maws, so... you know... where are our best and brightest who would control these facilities? That scares me a little, too...

So... there are a number of things to consider. But my studies show that nuclear energy is the safest and most cost-effective energy, so... you know, make of that what you will.

But our current Engergy Secretary has some pretty awesome ideas, so I'm open to whatever he suggests.

The guy is awesome! And of course, the Republicans keep trying to blow him off because he's a man of science, not some idol worshiper or whatever voodoo it is that they believe in.

goddamnitsomuch...!!!

I hate to give Schwartzenegger any credit for anything, but as gov here in California, he's made some amazing strides with alternative energy and using solar in certain parts of the state.

The thing is - there are people out there with the knowledge and willpower to do it - it's just that they need funding and support, and governmental support is blocked by partisan games and fundemantalist religious fanatacism, and the funding can be hard to come by, as the existing energy powers don't want anyone to cut into their profits and thus they spend tons of money to support opposition.

Like, basically... anyone remember having a shitty room-mate in college and you want to clean the apartment, but you can't do it with them around, so you wait for them to go home on vacation and then you clean and remodel the place? If we could get the Republicans to go on vacation for a few years, we could get energy rolling in the right direction and get that ball rolling too hard to stop so when they get back, all their anti-science and anti-book-learnin' crying won't be able to un-do what we can get done.

Just saying.

Mike, serious question here.  What happens to all that solar power once it's absorbed?  We don't have the high capacity batteries for long term storage.  So, it's either use it now or it's lost.  There aren't a lot of major cities (some, but not many) in the desert that could use that electricity.  The technology for most alternate energy sources just isn't there yet.

Speaking of solar panels, what about the costs of construction?  Gotta mine the materials needed and then manufacture the actual products.  Solar power may be free, but collecting it is expensive and could be dangerous as well.  Link

The sad thing about all this is that its not catastrophic enough to make the government realize we need to get off oil, since most politicians are in the pockets of the oil companies.

I almost think the only way we'll ever get off oil is when its close to being non-existent!

I can think of several reasons to get off oil and develop self-sustaining and cleaner fuel. But here are my top 3, in no particular order:

1. No dependence on foreign countries....or invading them....for fuel.

2. Cleaner enviornment, including things like this oil spill not happening.

3. Would seriously screw over the Middle East if oil is rendered obsolete.

Barack Obama, while in some respects justified against BP, seems to be on a collision course with some British politicans.