Nuclear option: Earth’s climate panacea or poison? – MENAFN.COM

Nuclear option: Earth’s climate panacea or poison? – MENAFN.COM

For its supporters, nuclear energy is the world's best -- perhaps only -- hope to avoid catastrophic climate change. Opponents say it is too expensive, too risky and totally unnecessary. Standing between the two camps are those who see atomic power as a necessary evil that will buy the time needed to develop cleaner and safer alternatives. "We don't have the luxury of choosing one or the other," said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, which advises developed countries. It's a hotly contested debate that continues to divide specialists and policymakers alike. Unlike wind, solar and hydropower, nuclear plants do not depend on often unreliable climatic factors. A combination of drought and low winds, for example, has been blamed for the recent surge in natural gas prices that is stoking demand for dirty alternatives such as coal and oil. Still, nuclear stations are plagued by high construction costs -- with recent projects taking longer to complete and blowing out budgets -- as well as the thorny problem of disposing of highly toxic waste and decommissioning power stations. On the plus side, nuclear reactors create massive amounts of power with no direct emissions of carbon dioxide. Even taking