Poll: Nuclear power and You

[Kollega]

-snipped for length-

Yeah,i see what you mean. And oh.

Welcome. Welcome to the Escapist.

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[tillotson11]

One of the things that you have to understand is that Chernobyl was a Soviet reactor, and they built theirs with safety standards Western counterparts find appalling. In the only American nuclear disaster, Three Mile Island, only three died, and that was from the panic caused, not the reactor itself.

As far as waste, the amount can be pretty small when the fact that it can be reprocessed into more fuel is taken into the equation. The only reason the United States doesn't do it is because of an outdated policy from the Carter administration. And when you take into account new reactor designs that make their own fuel (you heard me right), nuclear could help break our dependance on coal.

(FUN FACT: A coal powerplant emits more backround radiation into the environment than a nucler powerplant.)

 

[toapat]

Well it happened. I finally saw enough stupid posts on here i had to make an account just to reply. I feel dirty ... like ive allowed myself to be trolled.

Lets lay down some more facts shall we?

cost per kilowatt hour:
solar 50c
hydro 29c
Oil 18c
Gas 8c
Coal 3c
Nuclear 2c

of these nuclear and solar are the only one decreasing with time. and as someone working on solar - its not decreasing all that fast.

Waste per killowatt hour:
Coal 0.95kg
Nuclear 30g

Deaths by car accident in america PER YEAR: 39000
Deaths due to the Chernobyl incident EVER: 4000

i am in no way exagerating when i say opposition to nuclear power plants is fairly irrational. that said its hardly the be all end all response either we do need to move on to renewable sources sharpish. theres just no reason we shouldnt admit that total power generation by renewable means is at best a millenia off and with exhaustion of fossil fuels only 200 years away and death due to the problems they cause even closer we should very definitely be powering ourselves with nuclear until we get there.

yes Chernobyl did screw nuclear power, and so did 3 Mile island despite not happening (so alot of shit broke all at one time, not enough to fuck the entire system there).

until fusion and solar are both perfected, no power source is perfect

BTW, Welcome to the escapist

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

What most people don't get is that fissile materials such as Uranium are very rare and if we are not careful we will be trading a "oil crisis" with a "Uranium ore crisis"

Anyway long term risks of people using spent fuel rods for weapons outweigh the benefits.

 

[The Rockerfly]

I think if we can find something to do with the waste then
Yes

 

[Kollega]

I'm shocked that no one has brought up breeder reactors in regards to the waste problem.

I kinda forgot about it. I've posted only general details,but i'm glad other people fill in the details.

By the way,welcome to the Escapist - official welcome is a bit higher.

 

[toapat]

I'm shocked that no one has brought up breeder reactors in regards to the waste problem.

your late to that

and welcome to the escapist (kind of)

 

[walls of cetepedes]

I'm shocked that no one has brought up breeder reactors in regards to the waste problem.

Excellent point, I forgot about those!

Aren't they horribly expensive to build, though?

 

[Sulu]

Just wait till they get those fission (or is it fusion...the new type anyway) of reactors going. And at any rate the french make all the new nuclear power stations and please tell me the last time there was a nuclear meltdown in France!
People are just silly and are scared of the one power source that would save the planet. To get rid of the waste all we must do is jettisin it in outer space - job done!

 

[Kollega]

Actually,there's another intresting thing. Americans have loads of plutonium,but they're sealing it away because they don't have reactors able to work on a pure plutonium. Incidentally,Russia has fast-neutron reactors able to burn plutonium.

How about activating The Power Of Friendship? Or at least buying that tech?

 

[Anton P. Nym]

What most people don't get is that fissile materials such as Uranium are very rare and if we are not careful we will be trading a "oil crisis" with a "Uranium ore crisis"

Newer reactor designs can be fueled by Thorium, which is much more abundant (6x, I think) than Uranium and simpler to refine to boot. And hopefully fission will just be a stepping stone to a longer-term source like fusion or space-based solar; fission doesn't have to last forever, just a century or two so that we can iron out the kinks in those other ways.

Anyway long term risks of people using spent fuel rods for weapons outweigh the benefits.

It's far easier to kill people with diesel fuel than with radioactive waste, and diesel's far easier to obtain; there aren't armed guards around every gas station, are there?

-- Steve

 

[walls of cetepedes]

Actually,there's another intresting thing. Americans have loads of pluthonium,but they're sealing it away because they don't have reactors able to work on a pure pluthonium. Incidentally,Russia has fast-neutron reactors able to burn pluthonium.

How about activating The Power Of Friendship? Or at least buying that tech?

Whoa, giving Nuclear Material to the Russians?
What makes you think those narrow minded American Politicians will go for it?

 

[Kollega]

Whoa, giving Nuclear Material to the Russians?
What makes you think those narrow minded American Politicians will go for it?

I meant two-way exchange. Tech for cash,fuel for cash,tech for fuel - take your pick. Besides,Democrats are in charge right now,so who knows.

 

[tillotson11]

First, weapons-grade nuclear material is very much more refined than that used in powerplant. And as far as finding uranium, I have some in my own backyard. Everyone does. It's everywhere! Best bet would be filtering it out of seawater.

 

[walls of cetepedes]

Whoa, giving Nuclear Material to the Russians?
What makes you think those narrow minded American Politicians will go for it?

I meant two-way exchange. Tech for cash,fuel for cash,tech for fuel - take your pick. Besides,Democrats are in charge right now,so who knows.

I don't want to go any further, in case I make an inflammatory comment.

 

[z121231211]

It doesn't make a bit of difference guys, no matter what you say or believe the world is just going to use oil until it runs out.

 

[Kollega]

It doesn't make a bit of difference guys, no matter what you say or believe the world is just going to use oil until it runs out.

And then we'll go around and say "I fucking called it".

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

Nuclear Power is AWESOME,

This is a beautiful sight

 

[Danny Ocean]

- Nuclear terrorists can get their hands on a plutonium.

Don't you mean uranium?