In South Africa, they've started using a playground style merry-go-round so pump and purify water. As the kids play, clean drinking water gets pumped from a well. I mean... wow. That's just _awesome_. To me, that encapsulates everything the Environmental movement should do- instead of attacking technologies like Nuclear Power, they _should_ be coming up with creative solutions like this.
I am very upset about the anti-nuke-power movement. Sure, it's not the cleanest method of generating power, but bang-for-buck it's better than fossil fuels. No, it isn't a renewable resource. But it's a great measure to use while we're trying to get things like fuel cells, wind, solar, and water up to par- and seriously, W/S/W is _never_ going to make it when it comes to feeding our energy economy. But they can definitely help, and no energy plan is complete without them. But we have to keep our eyes on the bigger picture, and the more powerful ways of generating energy.
And I'm sorry, but fusion power is the next crucial step in any impending energy crisis- which we will inevitably see in what's happening with oil- probably within our lifetimes. Sure, we've got a _long_ way to go before it's ready, but with environmentalists screaming every time the mention of nuclear power is made- be it fission or fusion- we're never going to get anywhere.
Breeder reactors, especially, work. They have to be maintained and protected, but the payoff is _definitely_ worth it. In the early days of nuclear power there were plans to have a chain of breeder reactors that would use the byproducts of other reactors until the end product was a non-radioactive isotope. These are the sorts of things that we should be looking into, instead of closing down nuclear power plants.
