Posted on 07/05/2005 6:03:04 AM PDT by OESY
It's fitting that France was chosen last week as the site for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor being built by an international consortium....
No country gets a larger share of its total electricity from nuclear power than France at 78%. Perhaps more amazing, France consumes less than 4% of the world's energy but produces about a sixth of its nuclear power. Because the groundwork for this nuclear proficiency was laid in decades past, France deserves to be at the center of the attempt to take the next big step forward, fusion....
Most puzzling is that much of the opposition to nuclear power comes from the left... and in particular environmentalists. How the greens can on the one hand rail about fossil fuels' contribution to "global warming" and on the other criticize nuclear reactors that don't emit carbon dioxide is a mystery.
Absent the political risks and excessive regulatory burdens typical of the U.S., the French have found nuclear power to be cheaper than coal. Per kilowatt-hour it is less than one-third the cost of gas and oil, according to figures compiled by Energy Velocity and EUCG Inc. As the French have so aptly proven, nuclear power plants can be safe as well as productive.
China, taking a pragmatic approach at a time when its appetite for energy is driving up oil prices, is building two new nuclear plants. The country hopes to double the share of electricity supplied by nuclear power over the next two decades....
Instead of browbeating President Bush for not signing the Kyoto Protocol, industrial nation leaders could do more for economic growth and the environment by vowing to follow France's example and remove the regulatory barriers to further investment in nuclear power.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
It is a tale told by an idiot: full of sound and fury, and signifying nothing.
No mystery. The Green-weenies are primarily interested in income redistribution. They want us shivering in the dark.
Is this the only instance in history when the French "got it right?"
Cool Froggy there, BulletBob! I like it !
Well, I have to include these things the French somehow manage to get right:
1. The aerospace industry. Airbus Industrie--despite the current issues with the A380 superjumbo--became the first company to successfully challenge Boeing in the commercial airline business. (By the way, it appears that the major culprit in the A380 delays are German companies that are way behind in developing the cabin fittings for the plane.) The French take a leading role in the European Space Agency, and ESA uses the Kororu launch site in French Guiana.
2. Telecommunications. In one fell swoop, France Telecom's decision to totally upgrade their telecommunications infrastructure in the 1970's resulted in the ground-breaking Minitel online communications system, which was essentially a testing ground for many of the features we find today on the Internet. Today, France is one of the few countries where getting DSL broadband connections in the major metropolitan areas is pretty easy.
3. High-speed trains. SNCF's Tres Grand Vitesse trains have set a new standard for high-speed train travel in Europe, and modified TGV technology are used on the Eurostar trains that run between London and the European continent through the Channel Tunnel.
4. Automobiles. While the French auto industry may not be as flashy as the German or Italians, they have produced some very innovative classes of automobiles. Renault's revolutionary Megané Scenic "tall wagon" introduced in 1996 made people realize you can build small cars with decent interior space and very flexible interior arrangements without a large exterior size for the vehicle. Here in the USA, that has inspired Toyota to build the highly successful Matrix model, and Mazda will very soon introduce the Mazda5 "tall wagon" based on the principles the Megané Scenic introduced.
Interesting story. I wish we had the guts to build more nuclear power plants for our own electrical production. The French have been smart about this.
renault as a world class car??????
hahahahahahahhahahahahahah...I'm dyin here....hheeehoohahahahahah...please....snork...cant see keyboard thru tears...hahahahahahah
That may be true back in the early 1980's for your statement, but this is 2005, not 1982! The current Renault model line is actually quite successful all over Europe, and the current Scenic "tall wagon" has been selling like crazy all over Europe. By the way, you can stop laughing because Renault owns 49% of Nissan and much Renault technology will go into Nissan's next-generation models (the next-generation Sentra will borrow some platform technology from the Clio compact car now sold in Europe).
It's not so mysterious, if you think about it.
Folks on the left tend to think that we should live "collectively" -- sort of like insects in one great big hive.
A great many left-leaning folks (especially here in the USA) still remember (with fondness!) the '60's, with rural communes where everyone was "back to nature", and people thought they were "one with Mother Earth".
THAT's the sort of place folks on the left would take us to -- the sort of place Columbus found where he first discovered ther New World. A place where no fossil fuel -- and no nuclear fuel are consumed.
Rather like America in the 1700's -- or parts of the world now.
I'd like to see the whole bunch of themk become 'one with Mother Earth' - if you get my meaning
I just got back from the UK and Ireland and the number of French cars there, Renault, Citroen, etc, was really amazing. Saw more in a day over there than a year here.
I hope.
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