Reply #50: Ah, screw it - let's just go ahead!

[Terry in Austin]

Some amount of nuclear "development" is probably inevitable, given the deep denial and sheer numbers of people who wish we could maintain the extreme energy-per-capita levels once afforded by cheap and plentiful fossil fuels. Victims of wishful thinking are unlikely to be dissuaded by any kind of rational argument, but they may eventually take notice of stark, intrusive reality.

So yeah, let's get on with building the damn things and get it over with. We might reach one or two hundred out of the necessary 12,000 before this ill-conceived stunt runs out of money, uranium, plausibility, political will, or all of the above.

After that, poorer and wiser (and more radioactive), we can get on with the main task of refurbishing the world so that it can run on sustainable amounts of energy.

We've spent the inheritance, and wishing won't bring it back. Uranium might look like another rich uncle ready to croak, but we've been through this movie before -- how many times do we want to sit through it?