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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Return of Socialism

After having marked the anniversary of Fukushima, we turn and find that the nuclear energy industry has emerged from the cloud under which it had been cast, and it is resurgent and an important part of the Energy Mix, or Energy Mosh-Mish, according to your taste.

Nuclear Energy signals the return to Socialism, and it indicates that the old Myth of American Know-How and inventiveness - at least in the field of Energy - is still dead or moribund, having been left for dead by the fossil fuel industry.

Never forget that Nuclear Power is, by its very nature, an industry which is always "Too Big To Fail".
Nuclear cannot be insured, because the scale of disaster when something goes seriously wrong - and it does now every 10 years or so - is too great for any one insurance company and too great for any pool of insurers. Thus, Nuclear has always been uninsured when it comes to disasters:
Nuclear Power has always been a hand-in-hand effort of Government and the Nuclear Industry. The role of Government in nuclear energy has never been of a limited time or scope, as government help has been many, many times to many industries over the course of our history; rather, Government has always remained an active partner.

When Nuclear goes wrong, we pay the bill; add that to the cost of energy.
Many of the people who decry Socialism in Health embrace Socialism in Energy. I can only assume it it because that the socialism in energy is so well-disguised that these people cannot see it. However, when it comes to the Nuclear Option, everybody has to pitch in: no one can opt out.

Someone like Romney may opt out of Medicare, but he cannot opt out of active participation in the socialized risks of Nuclear Energy if it returns big time.
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

These are excellent points. But they require far too much grey matter to grasp. So they are useless against the forces of darkness. Besides, reducing the size of government certainly means relaxation of nuclear oversight. And as we all know government regulation is stifling businesses all over the place.

Montag said...

Urban myths... like small businesses are the major job creator in the economy. Yeah, right.