Controversial among whom? Not the public. The part you bolded comes from Bliar. I thought you are sceptical about rhetoric coming from Bliar, which was contradicted by that Scottish study you recall me posting.
I note Bliar long pushed for nuclear, while pretending to be sitting on the fence. For example by suppressing a government study showing nuclear to be uneconomic and unnecessary, and then issuing a total re-write; by ignoring warnings from the waste management committee, and preparing secret plan after secret plan. Meanwhile, at Guardian, you'll find a lot of critical voices about this latest announcement. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
QA65 To reduce our dependency on imported energy resources, Governments have to choose from a list of alternatives, sometimes costly solutions. Which of the following should the (NATIONALITY) Government mainly focus on for the years to come? (MAX. 2 ANSWERS) Promote advanced research for new energy technologies (hydrogen, clean coal, etc.) 41% Regulate in order to reduce our dependence of oil 23% Develop the use of nuclear energy 12% Develop the use of solar power 48% Develop the use of wind power 31%
The same for Britain:
* Promote advanced research for new energy technologies (hydrogen, clean coal, etc.) 36% Regulate in order to reduce our dependence of oil 17% Develop the use of nuclear energy 18% Develop the use of solar power 43% Develop the use of wind power 39%
The highest support for the nuclear saviour can be found in, no surprise here, Sweden (32%) and Finland (27%).
Other interesting tidbits, regarding the cojones factor:
Develop the use of nuclear energy by Sex - Male: 16% Female: 9% by Age: 15-24 11% 25-39 11% 40-54 12% 55+ 15% by Left-Righ scale (1-4) Left 9% (5-6) Centre 13% (7-10) Right 19% by Occupation managers 18% [nuclear energy and authoritarianism seem to go hand-in-hand...]
Jerome posted a study showing that people who already lived next to wind farms did not oppose them, but it's often pretty hard to expand a windfarm just by plopping down more turbines as wind energy require quite large areas, or maybe already all the best wind resources at a certain location has already been exploited. Because of this, one might claim that popular opposition (at least local, the most important) is often bigger for wind than for nuclear.
Now, once again, I might be looking like the evil anti-renewable boogieman. I assure you do not oppose renewables. I think they are very important. I just happen to think that so is nuclear. I might write a diary about wave ("marine) power later just to prove my loyalty. ;) Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
For the record, I posted it, Jérôme linked to it. The point wasn't that those living nearby don't oppose them and those living afar do - the point was that they oppose it even less. Wind NIMBYs are a minority, played up by the nuclear lobby (especially in Britain, where a former Thatcher aide and nuclear lobbyist headed the most important anti-wind campaigner NGO).
From that study:
...All respondents lived within a 20 km zone of the windfarms. The survey obtained results that are representative of people living within three zones (up to 5 km of a windfarm, 5-10 km and 10-20 km)... People who lived in their homes before the windfarm was developed say that, in advance of the windfarm development, they thought that problems might be caused by its impact on the landscape (27%), traffic during construction (19%) and noise during construction (15%). By comparison, since the windfarm development, only 12% are concerned about the impact on the landscape,, 6% say that during construction there were problems with additional traffic, and 4% say there was noise or disturbance during construction. ...People living closest to the windfarms tend to be most positive about them...
People who lived in their homes before the windfarm was developed say that, in advance of the windfarm development, they thought that problems might be caused by its impact on the landscape (27%), traffic during construction (19%) and noise during construction (15%). By comparison, since the windfarm development, only 12% are concerned about the impact on the landscape,, 6% say that during construction there were problems with additional traffic, and 4% say there was noise or disturbance during construction.
...People living closest to the windfarms tend to be most positive about them...
Anyway, people living closest to nuclear power plants tend to be most positive about them, also.
A new public opinion survey in the United States shows that 83 percent of Americans living within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant favor nuclear energy, and 76 percent are willing to see a new reactor built near them [...] Electric company employees were excluded from the survey.
[...]
Electric company employees were excluded from the survey.
Full article. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
