Anti-nuclearism

Recently, the ANSATO has issued a press release stating that Australia needs to develop nuclear plants if it want to cut its greenhouse emissions. Being the filthy hippy I am, I'm opposed to nuclear plants. However, I do try to base what I am for and against on as non-ideological grounds as possible-think realpolitik. Hence,

1. Building the bloody things. Plants are extremely expensive-ranging from $6 to $10 billion to produce. Not only that, but they're only getting dearer. Think of how much energy could be supplied if $6 billion was spent in renewable energy (and it would be much cheaper in the long term; see no. 3)?

2. The water use. You know those chimneys gushing with what looks like smoke? That's actually steam. Nuclear plants require millions of litres of water every day to use, far more than other sources of power. That would be fine if we had millions of litres of water to spare, but we don't. Australia is the second driest continent on the earth (next to Antarctica) and only getting drier. And I haven't heard from the pro-nuclear side just where this water will be coming from.

3. It's finite. Uranium, as with oil and coal, is a finite source. That means that it will eventually run out. I don't know when-it could be 20 years, 50 years, even 100. But it will, and when it does, we will look pretty bloody stupid with all these worthless nuclear plants around. Renewable energies are called 'renewable' for a good reason; they don't run out. (OK, the sun will eventually burn out, but that'll be about 5 billions years in the future, a touch more than the uranium)

4. The waste. There's a good reason why no country wants to handle this stuff: it's the equivalent of injecting tar directly into your lungs. The waste takes forever to break down and if it leaks, it will wreck havoc with everything it comes into contact with. As far as I know, the only way to completely get rid of the waste is to launch it into the sun-and that creates a slew of new problems (the expense of launching so many space shuttles, the danger of a leak, finding a pilot who'd willingly sit in a cockpit 10 feet from enough isotopes to mutate them into the hulk...).

Long story short, there are sufficiant problems with nuclear waste-from beginning to end-to render the whole building plants unfeasible. Next up-arguments for more solar!