Neutron jf

Hi, I live in Canada in a double-wide igloo with my dog-sled team. I have a BSc in Physics because I didn't want it to be easy to get a job.

My Biases

I am an atheist and a skeptic and am a participant in Wikipedia:WikiProject Skepticism. My position is that no belief should be considered immune to honest questioning, and if a belief does not stand up to this it deserves to be discarded.

I've worked in the oil and gas roller-coaster for about 30 years, in the area of pipeline integrity. Most of my work has involved inspecting pipelines to determine if they are safe to continue operating, and to report any defects which are found so that they can be repaired. In spite of the bad spills and leaks which have occurred, pipelines are still by far the safest way of transporting oil and gas - much safer than transport by rail or sea.

I believe there is a definate place for alternative energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal and where I live is actually is a prime location for all of these. However, every energy source has pros and cons - there is no perfect source of energy. I would love it if solar and wind could provide all our energy but for various reasons that is not feasible. And unfortunately fusion is still a long ways from being usable. For now, if we are serious about reducing carbon emmisions, I beleive that nuclear power is essential - we can't do what Germany is doing. Germany is shutting their nuclear plants, but now realize that wind and solar aren't sufficient and so now are planning to demolish a village in order to create a lignite mine, which is a very dirty form of coal .