Tuesday, December 11, 2007

30 nuclear plants a year...ONLY?

An new report from the IEA suggests a rapid increase in nuclear...and coal! Let's examine this:

World needs 30 nuke plants/year for power, emission cuts: IEA



Speaking on the sidelines of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's Bali talks Tuesday, IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka said that to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gases recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world would need to build 30 nuclear plants of 1000 MW each year between 2013 and 2030. It would also need 22 coal- fired plants with carbon capture and storage at 800 MW each; 20 gas-fired plants with carbon capture and storage at 500 MW each; Two hydro dams of the size of China's Three Gorges Dam (1.7 million MW each); 400 combined heat and power units at 40 MW each; and 17,000 wind turbines of 3 MW each.


Well, this is 'progressive' in that they recognize the need for nuclear energy to be part "of the mix" of energy resources in the near future. But is the need only 300 plants in 10 years? And adding coal! There is not one item in additional to nucelar that is actually need beyond a more aggressive building program in nuclear. The IEA is bending to the Renewable Lobby that seeks to poise 'altnerative' sources of generation on the world when nuclear can handle all the needs. From around 1968 through 1986, the world build 430 nuclear power plants, usually through state sponsored power plant construction schemes (except in the US where private companies had their profits subsidized while building expensive 'free enterprise' plants that went bankrupt).



The World could easily build 50 to 100 plants a year if it decided...in a serious plant to 'gear up' to build the several thousand plants the planet needs to eliminate fossil fuel generating facilities.



Under world socialist planning, this could be accomplished. For that to happen,the working classes of the world needs to rid it self of the capitalist class. -- That, for another blog...



--Left Atomics