Margarita V Alario
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA
Title: The case for nuclear energy in a global changing climate: A cautionary tale
Biography
Biography: Margarita V Alario
Abstract
Given the risks posed by climate change, and its low CO2 ecological imprint, the nuclear energy industry has found enthusiasts. In the USA, there are even historical precedents for this renew enthusiasm. The latter half of the 20th century was a time when the confluence of science, nuclear technology and economic interests seemed in tune with military interests and national security goals. The Eisenhower administration inaugurated the civilian uses of nuclear energy, the so-called Atoms for Peace program, and went as far as promoting this program around the world. The mixed results of this civilian nuclear technology development signal reasons for restraint. Furthermore, the post-Cold War as well as the presently and slowly developing “new cold war” between the USA and Russia gives as the empirical and analytic line of reasoning for a cautionary tale. In this paper I analyze; the civil nuclear energy development program; its unintended consequences in the development of nuclear weapons; the current and evolving global security threats by nuclear powers. Given other viable and “green energy” sources which are non-CO2 emitters, a cost-benefit analysis on the nuclear energy industry is significant.