General Discussions

[DJC]

The fact that Chernobyl was brought up here as a con to nuclear power interesting.  It represents a failed attempt at controlling technology that wasn't so greatly understood 50 years ago now.

Thing is how many nuclear plants have been built since and how many more Chernobyl events have occurred?  How many of them have been caused by natural disasters which we generally don't experience here in Australia?

Its a blend situation.  The true reason nuclear is held back is due to the uranium factor.  It isn't abundant and no nation really trusts selling it abroad because not all of it would be used for power.  This limits the capability to profit off the product unless we start throwing caution to the wind.

Nuclear power plants were supplying a peak of 17.5% of the world's power in 1996.  They now supply 10.3% of the world's power.

The real reason why nuclear power is becoming irrelevant as a power source is ecomics; it's cheaper to use sustainable energy sources and the risk factors are much lower.  It's actually a bit scary that private enterprise is driving the change to sustainable energy sources and dragging governments along in their wake.