Pros and cons of nucleae - Guardian

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/occam ... lear-power

We should fund nuclear energy research now – or tomorrow we may not be able to turn
the lights on.

"America is addicted to oil," George W Bush
told us in 2006. W was worried particularly
about America, but the problem is really a
global one. Of course you might not want to
believe the ex-president, because he also
said (in the same speech): "Americans
should not fear our economic future, because
we intend to shape it" – two years before the
most massive financial recession seen since
the 1930s.

But Bush was right about the oil part.
Regardless of where you stand on climate
change, the world at some point and maybe
sooner than we think, is going to run out of
oil.

According to the Hirsch report ,
commissioned by the US department of
energy, peak oil has already occurred or is
about to occur. "Peak oil" is simply when the
world is at the peak of extracting oil from the
ground, after which we will go into steep
decline. If you are optimistic, peak oil isn't
coming anytime soon. If like W and the
Hirsch report, you are not so optimistic, peak
oil has happened or is just about to and we
have on the outside about 20 years until we
feel the effects.

Running out of oil has much bigger
consequences than just not being able to
drive your car to work or not being able to
watch TV. Most of the world's hydrogen
comes from cracking of oil into useful stuff
like octane for engines, or hydrogen for
hydrogen-storage, hydrogen for fertilisers that
keep the world's population fed. Hydrogen
can also be produced by splitting water but
this also requires energy – which often
ultimately comes from a fossil-fuel base. If
we are not prepared when the world runs out
of oil, bad things are going to happen.