The Economist (March 6)
“Though understandable,” the knee-jerk reaction following the Fukushima disaster “was wrong.” Nuclear power has numerous drawbacks, but “well-regulated nuclear power is safe” and essential given the climate crisis. Nuclear provides constant generating capacity to support a reliable grid. Furthermore, “nuclear provides such capacity with no ongoing emissions, and it is doing so safely and at scale around the world.”
Tags: Climate crisis, Disaster, Drawbacks, Emissions, Fukushima, Generating capacity, Grid, Nuclear power, Reaction, Reliable, Safe, Scale, Understandable, Well-regulated
LA Times (March 16)
“Californians may be inured to rolling blackouts that cut off their power for hours at a time, but imagine an outage that darkens the entire country — for more than a year.” A federal report, disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, shows this “nightmare scenario” could result if just nine critical substations were knocked out. Officials need to take action and “address the frightening challenges posed by the grid’s reliance on custom-fitted equipment that can take months, if not years, to replace.”
Tags: Action, Blackouts, California, Challenges, Equipment, Grid, Nightmare, Outage, Power, Scenario, Substations
