Anti-nukes are a bunch of blow hards

The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan so hard have now resulted in a crisis at one of their nuclear plants, resulting in some release of radiation to the environment and mass evacuations of the area. Despite this ongoing tragedy, which has yet to be resolved, some anti-nuclear activists have come out of the woodwork to use this tragedy to rally people to their cause. They say that now is the time to shut down all nuclear plants and go to green alternatives, such as wind and solar power.

I support the use of green alternatives where they make sense, but this technology is not a panacea, nor is it a one size fits all solution for the world's power needs. I did a little research and found out that a single unit nuclear reactor can create more or less 800 MW of power (I did not research all the current offerings from different countries, but let's use this as a typical example -- you can use other nuclear reactor numbers to compare with the other figures I provide). Typically, there are multiple reactors on a single site (assume 4), and the site will occupy approximately 2,000 acres in North America.

An equivalent wind farm in Texas (Roscoe Wind Farm) has the capacity to generate 780 MW, but of course, that depends on wind speed throughout the day and year. Even assuming that they get full generation throughout the year (which is unlikely), they would generate 7 TWhr of electricity in a year. About the same capacity as one nuclear reactor (remember we are considering 4 units on one nuclear site). Yet this particular wind farm occupies 100,000 acres, i.e. 50 times the area of a nuclear generator site, producing less than 1/4 of the power!

Having a look at solar, the Harper Lake California solar farm has an 80 MW capacity on 120 acres. To achieve the 800 MW capacity, it would have to occupy 10 times the space or 1,200 acres. However, they reported generating an average of 125 GWhr of electricity per year, which is an efficiency of just under 20% -- and this is in the desert! This is in part because the sun doesn't shine 24 hours a day in this location!

It's clear that from a land use perspective, nuclear power is the most efficient. Of course there are issues such as potential radiation leaks to the environment, what to do with the spent fuel rods, and what happens when the facility is at the end of its useful life. But there are also issues arising from these "green" sources. One current discussion is the effect of low frequency noise coming from wind turbines that are affecting the health of local residents. What about the high cost of solar panels (although prices are coming down)? Not to mention that wind and solar generation are not reliable sources of energy and are considered as visual "pollution" by many. Are you going to get a lot of wind during a hot and humid day to run air conditioners? Are you going to get enough solar power in the winter (not to mention at night) to run your furnaces? Environmentalists aren't talking about these issues. In fact, I recall a long time, well known environmentalist (his name escapes me, but I believe he's located in the UK), has come out and supported nuclear power as a "green" alternative until the next generation power source is developed. What does this tell you?

I think these anti-nuclear activists taking advantage of the situation in Japan are despicable, and unfortunately, the media is giving them a voice. I'm not against debate on the subject, but this should not be an either/or discussion. Nuclear power should be part of a larger energy plan, optimizing all of the available technologies. Where nuclear power is used, nuclear engineers need to use the occurrence in Japan to review and revise their risk assessments, and look at how they can make their facilities safer. Nuclear facilities have back-up power in the form of fuel generators and batteries to ensure the water pumps run in the event of a power outage. Could the addition of wind and solar power at these sites provide supplemental back up power if there was a catastrophic event such as what we've seen in Japan? Makes you wonder.