Green Daily

With close to 100 nuclear power plants coming up on the end of their life-cycles, decision makers will soon be forced to make some tough choices when it comes to the next phase of the US energy business. Since it doesn't look like wind or solar power will be able to meet demand, the choice is either: continue on with coal and gas, or embrace the greenish glow of nuclear power.

At this point, it seems like nuclear will be the obvious choice for the 21st century -- it's both economical and carbon-conscious. Most of the number crunchers at companies like GE agree that right now, the greenest option for energy is nuclear, coupled with as much renewable energy as we can squeeze together. Of course, GE is one of the largest suppliers of wind turbines, and they dabble in nuclear power equipment too -- not exactly unbiased.

This year, GE's revenue from wind turbines outpaced their nuclear division by 600%. While that seems like a good thing for the environment, what it really says is that nuclear power isn't expanding very quickly -- and the majority of our power still comes from coal. GE's vice chairman, John Rice put it this way:

"We'd be glad to sell more wind turbines, but the fact of the matter is that you can't possibly replace nuclear with wind"

It will be interesting to see whether or not nuclear power will find favor in the court of public opinion. I wonder whether people are really comfortable with having a nuclear reactor in their town. Or will the NIMBY attitude prevail?