30 Fairmont Park Lane S
Lethbridge, AB T1K 7H7
Phone: (403) 328-1704
Thursday, December 06, 2012
The Editor
The Lethbridge Herald
P.O. Box 670
Lethbridge, AB, T1J 3Z7
Re: “Nuclear Madness Strikes the World”
Gwynne Dyers column of November 25th , “Nuclear madness strikes the world” , is much appreciated. He points out that nuclear power has a far better safety record than coal and other fossil fuels and is available now, whereas significant sources of renewable power are decades away.
I do wish Gwynne had made a stronger case though. He bases his support for nuclear power on a need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Nuclear energy has a much higher calling than that.
Energy is essential to all life on this earth. Human understanding of the role energy plays in life processes is profound. This understanding has elevated the planet’s available energy bounty through our ability to supplement the energy of the sun with solar energy stored in the form of life based carbon compounds over millennia and other solar driven processes. Much of that energy is dedicated to enhancing nature’s food production and availability through agriculture and transportation systems. Our species is thriving within nature’s processes as a result.
Unfortunately, the energy bounty trapped in fossil fuels is being used up. Our discovery of methods to manage energy related to the transformation of atoms over the past century opens yet another opportunity to apply energy to solve problems the planet faces. That is why nuclear energy needs to be developed to its full potential.
Yours truly,
Duane Pendergast