Countries Suck

I've been watching the news today about the claims over ownership of the North Pole. This part I can't really say bothers me all that much - I have no plans to ever go to the place, there's no shops there and I bet the net connections are crap. What does bother me is the reason for the dispute - oil drilling.

Why is everyone still so crazy about finding the newest spot? It seems to me that the sensible thing to do in the most inhospitable parts of the planet would be build useful things that nobody really wants next door. And by that I mean nuclear power plants.

Think about it. In 50 years whatever oil is under there will be gone, no matter who owns it. All the while, reducing whatever ice they have around (allegedly) the pole.

Make it a habitat for a massive global nuclear hub, you have ready-made natural cooling. There's nobody around to kick up a fuss about having a plant built on their doorstep. A major accident (and this is what people are really scared of) is unlikely, but if it did happen then it'd only be polar bears at risk. But since the air is already like -30 degrees, the risk of a meltdown is reduced even further. Dig through the ice to the stone underneath, you get even colder because you're surrounded by massive walls of frickin' ICE! Less energy spent to cool your core surely means more to send down the wire.

Sure, laying cables up there would be pretty expensive as an outlay. But think of how much it'd help the world in general. And think how much it'll cost us all when an oil tanker inevitably hits an iceberg and spills oil all across the sea. Again.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "but what about the waste?". The average nuclear plant puts out just 3 cubic metres of waste per year after reprocessing. And the reprocessed uranium can be used for loads of other stuff. When these oil drills finally tap out, how much space will they take up? When we're all unable to do anything because nobody in the world has an actual plan for widespread renewable energy, how much space will any of us need?

Forward planning, people. The only good thing that could possibly come from the BP spill is people looking to other sources. Hybrid cars are already everywhere, so people don't need as much oil as they once did. Sure, I love a big roaring V8 as much as the next person, but less oil used on crappy stuff like keeping my lights on and my house warm means more to spare for fun things like car racing. IT all balances out.