Re: At least we are not waiting in lines?

On Jun 10, 9:23 am, kpnn...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Jun 9, 10:11 pm, Ray <rayb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



On Jun 9, 6:49 pm, Peter_Wimsey <nick...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jun 9, 8:13 pm, Ray <rayb...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jun 9, 6:06 pm, kpnn...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

I have always been keen on nuclear.

Why?

I think nucler is probably inevitable, given that people want to power
the grid, but also want to cut CO2 and fossil fuel usage. And I'm not
sure its a bad idea - one the one hand, you don't want to build a
house without a toilet, on the other you don't want to build your
house next to a strip coal mine.

Essentially an infinite resource, nukes are likely to become part of
our landscape

'Nuclear' -- and by that we are referring to nuclear fission, not
fusion -- has got its pluses and minuses - compared to many forms of
energy production it has many advantages that make it attractive. And
it has significant advantages too.

And I'm too lazy right now to type those advantages along with the
disadvantages - the pros and cons of nuclear fission, especially when
comparing them to other options, is a complex topic with a lot of
subtle details. Which is why I asked Kurt, who brought this up, to
explicate why he's "always been keen on nuclear," since he brought it
up.

The cons, in short, are:

1: Centralized energy production, which poses a substantial security
risk.

2: Nuclear waste.

-and-

3: Cost, which when taking into account cons 1 & 2, is per the
analysis of many is too high

That said it's not a cut-and-dry issue - it's instead a very complex
one, with IMO no clear or obvious 'right' or 'wrong'.

I will confess that I am probably not as literate on all the details
in
alternative energy sources as I should be. My take is that there are
cost concerns, pollution concerns, and feasibility concerns with all
options. Going by cost, we will probably head into more pollution.
Going by pollution concerns, we will head into feasibility (wind).

Our not-too distant future energy grid will, hopefully, look something
like this:

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/clean_energy_policies/clean-energy-blueprint.html

And what many people continue to underestimate the value of here is
energy conservation - not through sacrifice, but through more energy-
efficient technologies. Up to one-third of our current energy usage
could be reduced if we were to more actively promote more energy-
efficient technologies.

My take on nuclear is that the biggest concern is the fact that when
something goes wrong something really goes wrong; it is the human
maintenance variable.

While still not fail-safe, new fission plants are safer than the older
ones. As such the biggest concerns these days aren't with respect to
a 'China Sydrome'-type incident but instead with how to protect them
from terrorist/enemy attacks, and - same as it ever was -
proliferation and what to do with the waste. This in turn drives up
costs to the point that, at this time at least, making new nuke plants
is not cost-effective. That could change in coming years, however,
depending on where other energy technologies are at, including that
other form of nuke energy, fusion. (Fusion is still in R&D. While
still having the drawbacks of a highly-centralized power source, it
does not have the proliferation & waste issues.)

However, if we want to get off fossil fuels and
still have grid power (plus more) what are the options?

See above.
.

Relevant Pages

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