On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 04:30:06 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote in
i5K_e.410799$xm3.180028@attbi_s21::

Nuke plants have a finite life of about 25 years

Odd. How do we explain all the 1950s and '60s nuke plants that are still
merrily producing gigawatts of energy today?

I find it difficult to believe what you contend. Have you a source
for your assertion?

Um, well, these aren't quite the '50s and '60s vintage, but Zion Nuclear
Power Plant in Zion, IL, was built in 1970. It's still chugging along 35
years later.

And the Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant, which produces almost 10% of the
power needed in Iowa, has been running since 1974 -- 31 years ago.

So you were only off by 20 years or 57% of the nuclear plant's current
life span. I thought you were incorrect.

These took about 8 seconds to find on Yahoo. Both seem to be running beyond
your purported 25 year life span.

San Onofre 1 and 2 were shutdown after only 20 years of operation, so
25 years was a bit optimistic in that case.

Additionally, how can it be other than completely irresponsible to
construct nuclear reactors without having a secure means of for
storing the spent fuel for the required millennia?

I believe we've got geologically stable salt mines set to store all the
nuclear by-products that our nuke plants have created. Unfortunately,
environmentalists (through the courts) have been foolishly forcing the power
companies to continue storing on-site at each nuclear power plant.

So you feel that protecting the environment is foolish?

Who will oversee those nuclear dump sites for thousands of years? Even
the Roman empire failed to last that long.

What would you estimate the cost of transporting radioactive waste
might be? The potential for a spill?

Talk about a disaster waiting to happen...

Fortunately, prudent environmentalists have averted disaster so far...

So while allure of cheap nuclear power entices the uninformed, its
true costs, including the long and short term hazards it poses to the
environment, transportation of radioactive materials and byproducts,
the cost of decommissioning plants, and the cost of standing vigil
over the dump site for thousands of years, make nuclear power
expensive indeed.