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C00002 00002	energy.ess[e88,jmc]	Energy preliminaries
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energy.ess[e88,jmc]	Energy preliminaries

	Many of the proposals in this book presume use of energy,
especially electric energy, on a larger scale than is common today.
Since there is a large movement believing that we shall have to
get by with less energy than we now use, I should say why I believe
the reverse is true.  The reason is old-fashioned.  In the middle
1960s, the utilities in the U.S. became convinced that nuclear
energy was the most economical way of generating electricity.
A few years later, the environmental movement, which had been
pro-nuclear turned against nuclear energy as part of its general
anti-progress turn.  It succeeded in making nuclear energy more
expensive and greatly restricting its growth except in France.
The French have proved that nuclear energy is practical and
it produces 75 percent of their electricity; the remainder is
hydroelectric.  What the French can do, everyone can do.

	There are many arguments against nuclear energy, and there
are answers to all of them.  I won't take the space to rehearse them
here and refer to (19xx) for that.  However, because I think we need
a considerably  expanded electric supply, I'll make a few points
relevant to that.

	1. When it was expected in the middle 1960s that nuclear
energy would grow rapidly, it was already clear that the present
generation of reactors that only use the U235, which is only
0.7 percent of uranium is inadequate.  With breeder reactors,
the U238 and also thorium can be used.  Besides multiplying the
fuel by 140 plus a further large factor from thorium, it means
that much lower grade ores can be used.  In fact granite rock is
richer in nuclear energy than pure coal is in chemical energy.
The upshot is that the supply is adequate for hundreds of millions
of years.  The French developed an effective breeder reactor, but
its costs are about 1.5 times that of an ordinary reactor.  That
will be acceptable when it becomes necessary, but the reduction
in growth of nuclear energy makes it worthwhile to delay the
actual large scale use of breeders.  The U238 from which U235 is
extracted isn't lost and can be used later in breeder reactors.