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On Nov 29, 8:30 pm, "Vaughn Simon"
wrote: "BobR" wrote in message ... As I mentioned earlier, the main problem I see in the nuclear industry at this point in time and I am talking about more than just nuclear energy is the issue of dealing with the waste materials. And I pointed out that those "problems" have been solved for decades (except for the politics) and furthermore, fossil plants have horrendous unsolved waste problems. Problems that sicken people, kill people, and even threaton the future viability of our planet. Why is this so hard to see? It is not just a problem for the power plants but all other uses as well. With the power generation plants, it is how to dispose of (or recycle) the spent fuel and all other contaminated byproducts. Fuel recycling is a solved problem. We don't recycle fuel because the process makes potentially bomb-grade fisionable material which must be safeguarded to ensure that is is used for fuel modules, not blowing things up. Of course, we spend (or at least have spent) billions to operate special reactors for the express purpose of making bomb-grade material while we argue about how to store our used (recycleable) fuel modules. The spent fuel could, as someone pointed out, possibly be recycled for other uses if some way can be found to do so safely which is the current delima. The bigger issue though might be the other contaminated byproducts including the cooling liquids, and the facilities themselves as they reach their useful life and are decommisioned. We have been decommissioning plants for decades, we know how to do it. The Navy has decommissioned hundreds of nuclear reactors, including my old submarine. I know, the same issues are there with fossil fuels but that does not excuse us from proactive decisions on nuclear issues. Again, the storage "problem" is long solved, except for the politics. ****, even the Egyptians knew how to build buildings that could last thousands of years, and they did it thousands of years ago. What makes you think that we can't do it today? Most of the contaminates from fossil fuel generation can be scrubbed from the environment within a few years to few decades by natural processes. Proof? Thas assumes that we don't continue to add to the polutants. And the chances of that are? Let's deal with reality here please, and seriously consider what we are doing to our environment. Not so for nuclear waste. The contaminates from nuclear waste and / or nuclear accidents will take nature thousands of years to scrub. We don't have to "scrub" nuclear waste from the environment" because, unlike with fossil plants, the deadly waste is not allowed to enter the environment. The potiential effects are far worse. Agreed, at least in the near term. Unfortunately, we are not sure yet what the environmental results of thousands of fossil plants to our planet, but we are running the grand experiment today! That said, nuclear plants need to be designed & operated under very strict supervision. Operating them is serious business. All that being said, I would much rather live next door to a nuclear plant than a coal plant. Agreed again. I have literally lived in the same vehicle with a nuclear power plant for months at a time. Unlike the anti-nukes, I have taken the trouble to learn about nuclear power. (OK, actually I am an ex-Navy nuclear reactor operator.) I have personally met the dragon and it is not as fearsome a creature as some folks would lead you to believe. I just can't believe the damage we are doing to the environment and to ourselves by continuing to eshue nuclear energy in favor fossil power. Can we get back to airplanes now? Vaughn Sure we can get back to planes...do you have a nuclear powered plane? BG The point that you seem to miss is that an issue is not solved until all issues are resolved including the most important one which is the political will to solve them. We have the technology to solve the vast majority of our current polution issues with fossil fuels but we refuse to invest the monies to implement them. The same holds true for the nuclear industry. The difference is that the general public isn't going to and should accept that same attitude toward nuclear. |
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