Nuclear power
I am writing with reference to letter by Nokib-e-Kibria (May 10).
Nuclear power is neither clean nor cheap and it is no solution to Bangladesh's energy needs. Contrary to industry assertion, nuclear power is not pollution free -- uranium mining is highly carbon intensive and a major source of pollution. There is nothing clean about the radiation that nuclear power generation spreads from uranium mining to nuclear wastes. The highly radioactive nuclear wastes pose a great danger to many generations. The plan to bury them in deep underground storage is totally unacceptable as they are likely to contaminate ground water which is a major source of drinking water. Let's also not forget that uranium is a non-renewable resource and will run out fairly quickly.
The nuclear industry not only produces wastes, it apparently produces many self-promoting myths. Besides not being clean, it is not cheap. Several studies have found that the true costs of nuclear energy are underestimated by a factor of three. If the huge subsidies going to nuclear ($75 billion in Canada) were removed, the cost of electricity from nuclear plants would rise to 300 per cent.
To reduce greenhouse gasses to avert cataclysmic climate change, we need to shift quickly to no or low-carbon energy sources, which means the renewables like wind, solar, hydro, tidal etc. Even without a level playing field in the energy market, wind and solar power are least-cost options to the cheapest source of power -- coal. If we can stop nuclear industry from diverting scarce capital from making conversion to renewable, these energy sources will quickly become both practical and economical. Germany has already become a world leader in solar power generation and this is a country with long winters with far less sunny days compared to a tropical country like Bangladesh.
Baked by a tropical sun and lashed by monsoon winds, Bangladesh has massive supplies of renewable energy. Rather than looking at China, one of the most polluted countries in the world, Bangladesh should look to Germany which can provide it the technical know-how to tap the solar energy and Canada, which is going big on wind power.
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