Environment & Energy

China is using an “all of the above” strategy to achieve energy independence and avoid climate change. Their impressive program to build new reactors is dwarfed by the increase in use of renewable energy and the development of a hydrogen economy. Both technologies have advantages and disadvantages.

One thing to note about the countries with the greatest use of nuclear power is that they have active nuclear weapons programs and military reactors. In fact, military reactors operated by the US outnumber commercial reactors. These countries need a base of nuclear technicians and scientists to feed their military programs, and an industrial base for manufacturing, etc. The point is that nuclear energy is tangled up with military development and that is one of the reasons some countries are willing to heavily subsidize its development. That could have something to do with the “anti-nuke” sentiment you seem so obsessed with, although the nuclear lobby and nuclear bros/boys don’t like to draw attention to it.