This is nice ...
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2010 8:58 PM
Subject: [MbrExchange] Nuclear power: key to ramping up oil sands
Nuclear power should be key to ramping up oil sands
http://www.timminspress.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2600110
The
Daily Press 29may2010
EDITORIAL By MICHAEL DEN TANDT
Canadians have
watched in horror as BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill has mushroomed week by week
into the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.
The damage to the
Gulf's ecosystem is unknown. Oceanographers report seeing massive columns of oil
well below the surface. This is a phenomenon not seen before. Likewise, the
chemical dispersants used so far may prove to be a "cure" that rivals the oil
itself for toxicity.
Economically, the costs are already staggering. BP
has spent nearly $1 billion on cleanup and appears to have barely made a dent.
Fishing and ocean-side tourism anywhere in the Gulf states are crippled. Huge
areas of precious wetland may have to be burnt.
Here in Canada we can
draw some conclusions already about the consequences of this spill, which is now
at least twice as serious as the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
The
most obvious is that the Alberta tar sands have become much more valuable. There
was already great economic and political pressure to develop them to a much
greater extent.
This will now become an unstoppable force.
U.S. offshore and deep-water oil production will be slowed or halted for
months, perhaps years to come. Saudi and other Mideast production grows less
secure by the year. As the Americans search for safe, reliable sources of crude,
they will inevitably settle on Alberta as a solution.
Alberta's tars
ands have been dogged by the high cost, in energy, of extracting oil from the
sand. Industry has proposed building a
series of nuclear reactors to offset energy production from gas-fired plants.
This would greatly reduce the greenhouse-gas footprint of oil sands production.
The anti-nuclear lobby is, of course, dead
against this. For them neither oil nor nuclear are viable options. Perhaps
they'd prefer we all move into straw-bale houses powered by candlelight. It's
hard to say.
It's time Canadians and the politicians who lead us faced
facts: We need more modern, efficient, safe, nuclear power. This is the only way
to meet our growing energy needs while not exacerbating global warming.
Let the building begin.
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