The Clock is Ticking

The following was submitted by a reader

What all the objectors to Nuclear fail to appreciate is that the “Clock is Ticking” and it takes more than 10 years to set up and build these Nuclear power stations and from the lessons of Medupi, the same applies to Coal.

We know that the current “Old” Coal Driven Power stations are reaching the end of their life spans and will ultimately have to be shut down. Is that when they intend to start worrying about Load shedding and all that goes with it?  In 10 years there may be progress in the storage of power but it certainly doesn’t exist now and forward planning requires some action based on what is available now with the proviso that whatever is planned can be adapted to take on board the latest technology advancement. Of course that proviso also assumes there will be advancement in Nuclear technology.

We are really talking about the lead time it takes to implement whatever is decided or face the future problems in silence when we have no electricity and the economy is in tatters. We can then turnaround again and blame the government rather than all the objectors. Nuclear technology is far advanced over what was built at Chernobyl and few really know what the real impact has been on that “accident”.

Certainly the objectors fail to take into the account the impact of the Tsunami on the Fukishima incident,  the disaster that befell people from the tsunami far outweighs the actual damage caused by the Fukishama Power station but of course people couldn’t find anyone to blame for the Tsunami unless you turned on God, so we blame nuclear. It is also interesting that Germany has been a great voice against nuclear but fail to mention that they buy the bulk of the electricity from the European power grid so they don’t have to have all the “dirty power generation” in their backyard. The reality is that the bulk of that power comes from France who have an extensive Nuclear driven power supply.

One should also consider “all the problems” the folk in Cape Town are having with the Koeberg Nuclear power station which is surrounded by millions of Capetonians. It doesn’t seem that the water has warmed up and the surfers, paddle boarders and beachgoers still have to brave the frigid Atlantic waters. Just this morning on the a talk show they were talking about how the perlemoen poachers have turned their attention to Robben Island where the perlemoen and crayfish are apparently thriving notwithstanding the fact that it is but a short but “cold” swim from the Koeberg facility.

Also read Court bid to stop nuclear procurement