Wind Power VS. Nuclear

I stumbled upon an article in the opinion section of the New York Times which I found a little funny and wanted to share. It compares the energy output of an Oregon Wind Farm (Shepard's Flat Wind Project) to a nuclear reactor in Tennessee (Watts Bar) and the energy output that both can potentially reach. Although it makes a good point that the reactor can have a higher output majority of the time (the wind farm needs wind obviously, but only has that wind power "one-third of the time" making the output lower than the potential it could have if it were running the whole time; I believe the Tennessee Senator who wrote this is defending the fact that reactors can produce more energy and does not address the environmental issues that come with nuclear reactors. I don't believe anyone can argue that nuclear reactors will indeed produce more energy but will argue the negative effects it has on the environment and the people around it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/30/opinion/lweb30wind.html

Read the article and comment if you'd like.



~Lindsey Rieger