Reader Rants 'n' Raves

How misguided! Do you believe the US is running around the world trying to promote nuclear power because it will solve global warming, OR is it in order to make money.

Why not use a truly renewable technology based on an inexhaustible resource, that just happens to be in abundance in India? Solar energy has none of the drawbacks of nuclear - no mining and purification costs for fuel, no risk of terrorism, no waste. What happens when uranium supplies run down? I guess the sun will still be shining!

India should be using its hot desert regions to house solar thermal plants (Concentrating Solar Power - CSP)

The technology involves concentrating sunlight using mirrors to create heat, and then using the heat to raise steam and drive turbines and generators, just like a conventional power station. It is possible to store solar heat in melted salts so that electricity generation may continue through the night or on cloudy days. This technology has been generating electricity successfully in California since 1985 and half a million Californians currently get their electricity from this source. CSP plants are now being planned or built in many parts of the world.

CSP works best in hot deserts and with transmission losses at only about 3% per 1000 km, it is entirely feasible and economic to transmit solar electricity throughout India from the Thar Desert (or even hot deserts in the Middle East) using highly-efficient \'HVDC\' transmission lines.

Further information about CSP may be found at www.trec-uk.org.uk and www.trecers.net .

The many problems associated with nuclear power are summarised at www.mng.org.uk/green_house/no_nukes.htm