Re: Obama's excellent atomic omission


"trudogg" <independent@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ka9eq4tfq0875jlcrl72qi61qg0hablih7@xxxxxxxxxx
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:55:30 -0800, "Ernie Jurick"
<invalidexample@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

...the problem with nukes is waste storage.

The amount of waste produced by all nuke plants is insignificant next to
the
waste produced by a single coal plant.

...coal is a non-starter. It was strictly campaign rhetoric.

If and when they come up
with a way to neutralize the radioactivity of the spent fuel.

They have, decades ago. Nuke plants have the best safety record of any
energy-generating method as well. Not a single person has died of
radiation
or poisoning at a commercial nuke plant in the USA. Despite the hysteria
over Three Mile Island, no one was injured, much less killed.

...they were lucky as hell. And it "was" human error, you can't get
completely past that.


Yes, it was. But who could possibly anticipate a worker using a candle flame
to look for an air leak? The plant itself didn't malfunction. in any case
most new nuke plants operate with a minimum of people.

..it
truly will be the best solution to our energy problems. But to
proliferate nuke plants now without a good answer to the waste
problems is not a good plan.

As Allan says, the newest class of reactor creates neatly-packaged,
geologically stable waste. The biggest obstacle to reviving nuke power in
the US is public hysteria fomented by the anti-nuke crowd. France has been
generating 87% of its electricity for decades without harm. They even
export
it to non-nuke nations, a situation the US would love to be in.

...as I said, "in theory". The amount of time this stuff has to stored
is unparalleled in human history. This stuff is cleaner on the front
end, barring accidents...but it's the storage that no one can
guarantee. Anyone that says they can is a liar...

I think a failure 2 million years down the road can be safely disregarded.
:-) Spent fuel isn't particularly dangerous. I knew one scientist who had a
spent fuel pellet on his key chain, and I've handled spent pellets without
any protection at all. The hysteria over disposal is just that. Even
high-level nuke leftovers are cast into ceramic or glass blocks which are
inert and harmless. Thousands of tons are shipped by truck and rail every
day without incident.

Japan uses breeder reactors to pretty much eliminate waste, but Americans
have been conditioned to think that a single molecule of escaped plutonium
will kill off half the country, so we don't.
-- Ernie



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