Re: Nuclear Power - the only answer.



Robert Peffers wrote:

> Yes I know but it is great fun to, (eventually), ask them to explain how we
> can end up with a bigger quantity of fuel after withdrawing power from it.

You have much more patience than I do, then. What I
like is the bit about spent fuel being weapons' grade
material...which leads me to believe those doing the
talking here, don't know how "weapons grade" anything
is produced.

Even assuming you could grab the Uranium100 MWd/t
instead of the more normal 45K MWd/t (or the 10K
MWd/t from Magnox ones, I guess) how the devil does
anyone suppose the bombmakers can purify the Pu-240
from the Pu-239?

Theoretically, reactor-grade Pu could be _made_ to ex-
plode under certain conditions...but the conditions re-
quired are technically demanding and I suspect, beyond
the abilities of your average opportunistic terrorist.
Given that what's required for a _practical_ weapon is
reliability, yield, a deliverable size and storage life re-
actor grade Pu would present more than a few diffi-
culties. I don't suppose anyone's ever stopped to
wonder why, if reactor grade Pu is such a formidable
potential weapon, nations with nuclear weapons make
them from Pu produced especially for that purpose of
using the already available spent fuel from reactors.

> It is also funny to see the results of then asking why putting the now
> depleted fuel back underground has increased either the overall natural

Given that Pu is less hazardous than some other alpha-
emitters I could mention...

<sigh> I don't see anyone getting worked up over radon
daughters which are both common and wide-spread na-
turally, albeit in low concentrations and frankly, you're
more likely to find radon gas in your basement than Pu.

> Then of course, there is that thorny
> question of all those deaths from more conventional fuels and their
> polluting effects.

On the bright side, Bob, if the reactors are shut down
and the lights go off, so do the computers of those
weeping, wailing and gnashing their teeth. They'll prob-
ably be the first ones to start screaming about the
rationing of power and demanding something be done
to "stop it".

It might be an interesting experiment...turn off the
nuclear plants and let those vocal opponents get a
taste of what a Brave New World it will be without
them...never mind the home-based conveniences of
refrigeration or heating, what about the municipally
based ones like water purification and sewage treat-
ment? What if the little things of daily life, which
are so taken for granted but so dependent on power,
suddenly _stopped_ working...things like lifts, stop-
lights, streetlights and petrol pumps? Not to men-
tion things like computers, bank machines, credit
card processing machines and the tube...

I wonder if any of them have ever stopped long
enough to envision how their safe, secure, wee
lives would change. And I wonder how many could
actually survive it.

Deirdre
.

Relevant Pages

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