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A nuclear energy future is within our grasp
Franklin Johnston
Friday, May 20, 2011
NUCLEAR energy could be the best thing to happen to us! A new generation of politicians may mark out our turf as a leader and build prosperity. Nuclear separates the best from the rest and the new Cabinet in 2012 should engage providers to look at a nuclear option. This would change our nation's focus and mood and be a call to action and commitment. LNG changes nothing. In 1973 the owners of oil formed the OPEC-style cartel to control quantity and price; so will LNG, and we are back in the dunce corner! With nuclear energy we control prices and can fulfil our national aspration! But there is added value too.
Nuclear can shift our energy, FDI and prosperity paradigm. It means new careers, our scientists interned to power firms in the US, Japan or China; heavy metals industry; the JMA can ramp up export and break into the supply chain of components and spares for cars, etc. Investment in nuclear energy can do for this generation what bauxite did for the last, fix our national psyche, cure our malaise and be a tool to fast-track prosperity. Neither the JLP nor PNP grasps the transformative force of nuclear energy. Unlike oil or LNG, nuclear is a gateway to know-how, new industries, jobs and a success paradigm.
An aerial view of the nuclear power plant Unterweser in Esensham, northern Germany. (Photo: AP)
An aerial view of the nuclear power plant Unterweser in Esensham, northern Germany. (Photo: AP)
For two generations we took energy for granted, yet the oil shock of the 70s created no change - we just buy more and bawl! We remain oil addicts and soon-to-be LNG junkies. We pay more for less. We are going nowhere. We must consider nuclear energy.
Nuclear is politics and religion. Rich nations use it to maintain their hegemony and poor ones incline to belief systems which allow them. We are prone to irrational fear - part history part ignorance - "duppy dung deh" or "man nuh mek fi fly" which betrays a deep-seated fear of the unknown. The rich know us well and use fear to control us. Black nations are brainwashed to fear the things the rich wish to keep from us, and nuclear is one. They prosper by its use, we are out of the club and our fear keeps us there. Our ancestors were cowed by gunpowder or radio - a magic voice from a box. Now nuclear is our shibboleth! Fear limits our aspiration! We know Hutus killed more by machete than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb but our fear rules us. We must use the scaffold of our fear to scale the nuclear mountains. Energy is driven by know-how, not deposits. Trinidad and Tobago, Arab nations sat on oil and gas and could do nothing. Those with deposits may do well now, but those with know-how are winners! With nuclear know-how we too can win!
IN THE BEGINNING energy was renewable, available, egalitarian and dirty. Man found fire and organic fuel to make heat. He created havoc before he mastered them. Cities as Rome were razed; lives lost, tonnes of pollution into the atmosphere, mega acres of land dessicated. Some cultures still fear fire while the elite use know-how to create super fire.
FOSSIL fuels were next. The world came alive with coal, thrived on oil; external and internal combustion engines were invented and life was good. Unlike renewable fuels oil is know-how driven but relies on the accident of oil deposits. Is this divine humour? Some nations got know-how, others oil wells but they need each other. We have no gas or oil but nuclear energy can make us a player in the know-how arena.
NUCLEAR fission is the elite energy source. It is pure know-how, just a little yellowcake (uranium) from Africa. Nuclear fission superheats water to make steam, drive turbines and create energy - hot water, steam, torque, voilà electricity! Nuclear energy is a mark of a serious nation; it says we are in the race and will be on the podium. We fear nuclear but would you believe we are among the world's 40 nuclear nations? Yes! The SLOWPOKE reactor at UWI is there for a generation; it is inspected, never had an accident and now we need a young leader to move us to the next nuclear level.
Nuclear may not resonate with voters but a leader cannot rely on popularity in forging our energy future. Illiteracy and low self-esteem means it's hard for us to see ourselves as a nuclear nation, but come 2012 we need nuclear in our energy mix. We are the only black nation (South Africa is a white-built nation) with nuclear capacity thanks to Prof Bunny Lalor, and a new Cabinet must build on his work - quickly. As Cuba returns to the fold it will complete the nuclear plant mothballed when the Soviets lost their empire. Education and nuclear energy will make it the premier industrial and tourist nation in our area. Let's get in first! Fossil fuels took us this far; nuclear can herald sophistication and prosperity. Some 140 nations are behind us in nuclear; let's hold on to this comparative advantage!
Japan is the third nuclear power; all know-how, no oil fields; Fukushima will not set them back. They had over 500 quakes in the past three months - some 60 were above 7.0 intensity and life goes on as normal. A quake pre-empts Japan TV, details are on screen before the "S waves" (the ones that crawl up legs and shear concrete) reach some areas. They master their fears. We have few quakes, so can we! Nuclear may catalyse our science and universities; attract heavy industry; our sense of self, industry, know-how grows and we will prosper!
We use some 80k barrels of oil daily and will spend US$30 - 40 billion - whatever the oil and LNG cartels charge - in the next 10 years. Why not commit 32 months of oil money to our first nuclear power plant? To come on stream 5-7 years from start? The decision is our youths' - it's their future! Oil and LNG make others rich, nuclear makes us rich! Let's delink from a fossil fuel-only future and get 55 per cent of our energy from nuclear by 2022.
All energy sources have negatives. Wind and wave power create emissions, visual, aural pollution and play havoc with birds and marine life. Our air and oceans are one, so none escapes nuclear holocaust, yet the rewards go to those with nuclear. Britain alone has a dozen new plants in plan and there are dozens in design in developed countries. Let's not be ruled by fear. Let's get our share. Let us embrace nuclear energy. Stay conscious!
Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK.
franklinjohnston@hotmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1N0aqPIYv
Franklin Johnston
Friday, May 20, 2011
NUCLEAR energy could be the best thing to happen to us! A new generation of politicians may mark out our turf as a leader and build prosperity. Nuclear separates the best from the rest and the new Cabinet in 2012 should engage providers to look at a nuclear option. This would change our nation's focus and mood and be a call to action and commitment. LNG changes nothing. In 1973 the owners of oil formed the OPEC-style cartel to control quantity and price; so will LNG, and we are back in the dunce corner! With nuclear energy we control prices and can fulfil our national aspration! But there is added value too.
Nuclear can shift our energy, FDI and prosperity paradigm. It means new careers, our scientists interned to power firms in the US, Japan or China; heavy metals industry; the JMA can ramp up export and break into the supply chain of components and spares for cars, etc. Investment in nuclear energy can do for this generation what bauxite did for the last, fix our national psyche, cure our malaise and be a tool to fast-track prosperity. Neither the JLP nor PNP grasps the transformative force of nuclear energy. Unlike oil or LNG, nuclear is a gateway to know-how, new industries, jobs and a success paradigm.
An aerial view of the nuclear power plant Unterweser in Esensham, northern Germany. (Photo: AP)
An aerial view of the nuclear power plant Unterweser in Esensham, northern Germany. (Photo: AP)
For two generations we took energy for granted, yet the oil shock of the 70s created no change - we just buy more and bawl! We remain oil addicts and soon-to-be LNG junkies. We pay more for less. We are going nowhere. We must consider nuclear energy.
Nuclear is politics and religion. Rich nations use it to maintain their hegemony and poor ones incline to belief systems which allow them. We are prone to irrational fear - part history part ignorance - "duppy dung deh" or "man nuh mek fi fly" which betrays a deep-seated fear of the unknown. The rich know us well and use fear to control us. Black nations are brainwashed to fear the things the rich wish to keep from us, and nuclear is one. They prosper by its use, we are out of the club and our fear keeps us there. Our ancestors were cowed by gunpowder or radio - a magic voice from a box. Now nuclear is our shibboleth! Fear limits our aspiration! We know Hutus killed more by machete than the Hiroshima nuclear bomb but our fear rules us. We must use the scaffold of our fear to scale the nuclear mountains. Energy is driven by know-how, not deposits. Trinidad and Tobago, Arab nations sat on oil and gas and could do nothing. Those with deposits may do well now, but those with know-how are winners! With nuclear know-how we too can win!
IN THE BEGINNING energy was renewable, available, egalitarian and dirty. Man found fire and organic fuel to make heat. He created havoc before he mastered them. Cities as Rome were razed; lives lost, tonnes of pollution into the atmosphere, mega acres of land dessicated. Some cultures still fear fire while the elite use know-how to create super fire.
FOSSIL fuels were next. The world came alive with coal, thrived on oil; external and internal combustion engines were invented and life was good. Unlike renewable fuels oil is know-how driven but relies on the accident of oil deposits. Is this divine humour? Some nations got know-how, others oil wells but they need each other. We have no gas or oil but nuclear energy can make us a player in the know-how arena.
NUCLEAR fission is the elite energy source. It is pure know-how, just a little yellowcake (uranium) from Africa. Nuclear fission superheats water to make steam, drive turbines and create energy - hot water, steam, torque, voilà electricity! Nuclear energy is a mark of a serious nation; it says we are in the race and will be on the podium. We fear nuclear but would you believe we are among the world's 40 nuclear nations? Yes! The SLOWPOKE reactor at UWI is there for a generation; it is inspected, never had an accident and now we need a young leader to move us to the next nuclear level.
Nuclear may not resonate with voters but a leader cannot rely on popularity in forging our energy future. Illiteracy and low self-esteem means it's hard for us to see ourselves as a nuclear nation, but come 2012 we need nuclear in our energy mix. We are the only black nation (South Africa is a white-built nation) with nuclear capacity thanks to Prof Bunny Lalor, and a new Cabinet must build on his work - quickly. As Cuba returns to the fold it will complete the nuclear plant mothballed when the Soviets lost their empire. Education and nuclear energy will make it the premier industrial and tourist nation in our area. Let's get in first! Fossil fuels took us this far; nuclear can herald sophistication and prosperity. Some 140 nations are behind us in nuclear; let's hold on to this comparative advantage!
Japan is the third nuclear power; all know-how, no oil fields; Fukushima will not set them back. They had over 500 quakes in the past three months - some 60 were above 7.0 intensity and life goes on as normal. A quake pre-empts Japan TV, details are on screen before the "S waves" (the ones that crawl up legs and shear concrete) reach some areas. They master their fears. We have few quakes, so can we! Nuclear may catalyse our science and universities; attract heavy industry; our sense of self, industry, know-how grows and we will prosper!
We use some 80k barrels of oil daily and will spend US$30 - 40 billion - whatever the oil and LNG cartels charge - in the next 10 years. Why not commit 32 months of oil money to our first nuclear power plant? To come on stream 5-7 years from start? The decision is our youths' - it's their future! Oil and LNG make others rich, nuclear makes us rich! Let's delink from a fossil fuel-only future and get 55 per cent of our energy from nuclear by 2022.
All energy sources have negatives. Wind and wave power create emissions, visual, aural pollution and play havoc with birds and marine life. Our air and oceans are one, so none escapes nuclear holocaust, yet the rewards go to those with nuclear. Britain alone has a dozen new plants in plan and there are dozens in design in developed countries. Let's not be ruled by fear. Let's get our share. Let us embrace nuclear energy. Stay conscious!
Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK.
franklinjohnston@hotmail.com
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1N0aqPIYv
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