Summarize the main arguments for nuclear power: Explore conections between issues 

Why not ditch nuclear and focus only on renewables, as the greens suggest? 

How are we going to provide for our energy needs in a way that does not destroy, via global warming, the capacity of our planet to support life? 

Going nuclear CAN be part of the answer 

Going nuclear CANNOT be taken in consideration 

Why does the nuclear issue evoke very strong reactions?  

Going nuclear CANNOT be taken in consideration 

How about nuclear power s potential contribution to mitigating global warming?  

An anti-nuclear report published by the Oxford Research Group in 2007 concluded that an additional 2,500 reactors would need to be built by 2075 to significantly mitigate global warming(19). The reportÕs authors suggested that this was a pipe-dream.  

Are those who care about global warming prepared to reconsider their opposition to nuclear power in this new era?  

An anti-nuclear report published by the Oxford Research Group in 2007 concluded that an additional 2,500 reactors would need to be built by 2075 to significantly mitigate global warming(19). The reportÕs authors suggested that this was a pipe-dream.  

Why, given the purported advantages in safety and fuel use, have fast-breeders not been developed commercially?  

The solution proposed by Tom Blees, a US-based writer, in his upcoming book Prescription for the Planet(15) focuses particularly on so-called fourth-generation nuclear technology Ð better known as fast-breeder reactors. While conventional thermal reactors use less than 1 per cent of the potential energy in their uranium fuel, fast-breeders are 60 times more efficient, and can burn virtually all of the energy available in the uranium ore. 

What if a new generation of nuclear plants could be designed that, instead of producing more waste to leave as a toxic legacy for our grandchildren, actually generated energy by burning up existing waste stockpiles? 

The solution proposed by Tom Blees, a US-based writer, in his upcoming book Prescription for the Planet(15) focuses particularly on so-called fourth-generation nuclear technology Ð better known as fast-breeder reactors. While conventional thermal reactors use less than 1 per cent of the potential energy in their uranium fuel, fast-breeders are 60 times more efficient, and can burn virtually all of the energy available in the uranium ore. 

What about the waste that nuclear reactors produce? 

Since the by-products of fast-breeder reactors are highly radioactive, they have much shorter half-lives Ð rendering them inert in a couple of centuries, instead of the longer time over which conventional nuclear waste remains dangerous. 

How long high-level waste from reactors remains dangerous? 

Since the by-products of fast-breeder reactors are highly radioactive, they have much shorter half-lives Ð rendering them inert in a couple of centuries, instead of the longer time over which conventional nuclear waste remains dangerous.