The Real Nuclear Option

The fact is that we, despite our serious and grave concerns against it, must consider "going nuclear" for power.

Our power demands far outweigh what we can responsibly produce in America using only fossil remains. And the fact is that renewable energy sources are not going to solve the problem themselves- they are not efficient or consistent enough to fuel our power thirsty demands.

The best option, of course, will be to reduce our usage to the point that these renewable means will be enough. Not only unlikely, but unrealistic.

So what must a Nuclear America look like? It must:

• Refuse to cow to nuclear interests. No obscenely low, unpaid punishment for even minor offenses and infringements. Every plant must be inspected thoroughly and with precision and care, and none of them can be allowed even slight breaks.
• Refuse to allow power interests to simply unload their waste on America. None of this "Ship it all to Nevada" crap- it must be reprocessed where possible and stored carefully, all paid for by the industry itself in government mandated and controlled fashion, but not with tax-payer dollars. Waste is an aspect of the industry, and the industry must make provisions to take care of it; it is also a question of public safety, therefor it must be strictly observed.
• Begin a process of seriously supplementing nuclear with renewable and safe energies.
• Constantly work to reduce the footprint of energy use in America.

I'm sure there are more. And I'm sure these can be fleshed out more fully. But what is required is a clean, responsible, trustworthy industry to provide our massive energy needs.