Nuclear Power - A Step in the Right Direction

We all know how nuclear power has many disadvantages. We've all heard about the devastation of Chernobyl, seen the Greenpeace scenario video of a terrorist attack on Sizewell, and worried about the methods of disposing of nuclear waste; but the fact is we NEED to make the most of nuclear energy if we want to have the slightest chance of preventing a complete and utter global disaster.
The way I see it, no one who cares about the environment wants nuclear power, but we have to utilize it in order to get away from the more damaging means of creating power that we rely on so much - too much - nowadays.
Nuclear power is clearly a step in the right direction towards a world where we are not constantly attempting to evade climate change.

Lets look at what would happen in the UK if we weren't to replace the aging nuclear stations with new ones. The government would probably build new green energy plants (wind farms, solar farms and wave turbines), but they are building them anyway. These couldn't be built on current nuclear power plant sites. Instead, during the sites' decommissioning, they would probably have new coal/gas/oil powered stations built on the sites. Is this what we want?

In my opinion the current status of the future of power supplies in Britain stand with two options, which all hang on the nuclear verdict.
Firstly, Renewables+Nuclear+Fossil fuels > Renewables+Fossil fuels > Renewables. This means we first work on closing nuclear plants, but means we do nothing to combat climate change until later.
Secondly, Renewables+Nuclear+Fossil fuels > Renewables+Nuclear > Renewables. This means we deal with the problem of climate change now. We use nuclear as an interim solution, before we move to power ourselves entirely from renewable sources.

I have to say that I am glad that the Government have taken this stance on nuclear power, and I am upset that the my Party and the Green Party seem to think that suddenly we are going to be able to find the space and money for an extremely high number of wind farms, solar farms and tidal plants.

That is why I believe nuclear power IS a step in the right direction.

Political Compass

This is the Political Compass for all my Facebook friends who have taken the test.
It is separated by colour into LibDems, School Friends and members of the game Eshraval.

Looks like I have some very libertarian friends!

Click on the image to make it clearer - blogger doesn't really understand showing images full-size.