NIMBY: Nukes In My Backyard

...Such mini-nukes can be delivered anywhere in the world and have a multitude of uses. For example, an estimated 25% of the world's population is without adequate drinking water; mini-nukes could provide the power in remote areas to pump, purify and circulate clean water.

Their footprint compared to wind and solar plants is like comparing a Chihuahua to Godzilla. Modern turbines can be as tall as 400 feet and carry 130-foot, seven-ton, endangered-bird-slicing blades. Building these wind farms requires five to 10 times more steel and concrete than a nuclear plant generating the same amount of power.

"Alternative" or "renewable" energies such as wind and solar are romantic notions, but bump up hard against reality — including the fact that just a single 50-megawatt wind facility requires an appalling 4,000 acres of land covered with these enormous towers that work only when the wind is blowing.

In his op-ed, Gore noted that "President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon within 10 years." The Manhattan Project, which harnessed nuclear power for war, took half that time.

How about a new Manhattan Project — not one that subsidizes tilting at windmills or putting food in our gas tanks, but that encourages the rapid development, licensing and mass production of an existing clean and virtually limitless source of energy?