One of the most popular and well read bloggers on the planet has weighed in with an excellent comment about his reaction to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth”. Here is what Robert Scoble said in his June 25, 2006 post on the topic:
That taught me the depth of the problem. We aren’t willing to face the hard truths.
Hey, Al, even you aren’t willing to propose one of the best answers: nuclear power.
Why? Cause you know that proposing getting rid of the coal trains with nuclear power will immediately get you written off as a wacko. You know where those coal trains are going, don’t you (I took that picture in Livingston, Montana)? There’s a reason why we’re all building data centers in Eastern Washington — there’s low-cost access to coal and hydroelectric power.
Now what we need is to get some real conversation going with tech geeks like Scoble to determine what private industry can do to begin building new nuclear power plants that can provide low cost power in many other locations. After all, national networks with all the data centers clustered in the same location are not particularly well designed for good service to the rest of us.
Just in case anyone is interested here is a link to one company with plans for such reactors – Adams Atomic Engines, Inc. – though there are plenty of other choices available.
PS – thanks to Eric McErlain at NEI Nuclear Notes for the pointer to Scoble’s post.
