Coal Politics
There are at least three political problems with the necessity to shut down coal fired electric plants.
- Coal miners will have to find some other income.
- Coal mine owners must obviously have plenty of money to lobby against it.
- The only realistic
alternative is nuclear power, which because of its unnecessary association with the evils of the Cold War is anathema to otherwise sensible liberals.
There is a nuclear reactor design, the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR), that uses a renewaable resource, fissile nuclides.
It was cancelled in 1994, but profile on PBS's Frontline, a breeder reactor.
The IFR was already proven in a small scale prototype with a generating power worth ten wind turbines, twenty years ago.
Alternatives
