Global Energy Fallout

[divvy]

Germany plans to drop nuclear power by 2022

"Fukushima was a dramatic experience, seeing there that a high-technology nation can't cope with such a catastrophe," said Matthias Kleiner, the commission's co-chairman. "Nuclear power is a technology with too many inherent risks to inflict it on us or our children."

Merkel now says industrialized, technologically advanced Japan's helplessness in the face of the Fukushima disaster made her rethink the risks of the technology.

Overcoming nuclear power within a decade will be a challenge for Europe's biggest economy, but it will be feasible and ultimately give Germany a competitive advantage in the renewable energy era, Merkel said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7587526.html

Switzerland decides to phase out nuclear energy

In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Japan, the Swiss government on Wednesday decided to drop plans to build new nuclear reactors and to phase out the use of nuclear energy in the country, planning instead to pursue alternative energy sources.
Switzerland generates about 40 percent of its energy from its five nuclear reactors. Switzerland is the second country in Europe, after Germany, to make the decision to phase out nuclear energy in response to the nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Dai ichi plant after an earthquake and a tsunami hit the northeast coast of Japan on March 11...
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/110525/switzerland-nuclear-energy-phase-out

French Nuclear Safety Authority

Here's what the ASN (French Nuclear Safety Authority) is up to. Next big date: September 15th due date for results of a comprehensive safety review.

“This complementary safety evaluation will consist in a targeted reassessment of the safety margins of nuclear installations in the light of the events which occurred in Fukushima: extreme natural conditions challenging the installation safety functions and leading to a severe accident.”

I'm hoping for publication of engineering detail on dealing with Fukushima-type surprises. I have not heard any German-like discussion concerning a phase-out of nuclear energy in France.

So, if a technically advanced nation (Japan) cannot control Nuclear Energy, then what chance does Iran, North Korea, or Pakistan have?

I have not heard much discussion about viable energy solutions either. There are major storage problems with wind and solar which are intermittent, and geo-thermal systems will produce radon. We are de-funding government at EXACTLY the wrong time. Of course, this squalor will benefit big oil. The world is running from something (Fukushima), and therefore, we are not moving towards anything. Where will the energy needs of the future come from? The "magic of the marketplace" will not solve this problem.

hint: Government spending here can replace defense spending and create lots of jobs for returning servicemen at the same time.