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We agree on something
I agree that nuclear power could help us a great deal in the coming years. I'm sorry that you feel President Carter is to blame for the lack of a coherent energy policy. I was downwind from Three mile island when it malfunctioned back in the day (maybe that explains the mental defect of liberism!). If I remember, the plant operator compounded a small problem by not operating the reactor correctly. President Carter visited the site shortly afterward to assure americans that it was safe. At least the plants were not torn down. As long as the energy industry holds sway over our government, we will continue to export our money to the middle-east, funding the terrorists who ''hate our way of life''. They make more money that way. It's as simple as that. Get out of that tunnel!
By go nukes!
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Nukes Can Be Safe
Nuclear power can be done safely, just not by American private industry. There have been too many instances of private industry cutting corners at nuke plants.
The nuke industry also insists that the taxpayers subsidise the containment of the waste that they generate.
By the way, where are you going to put the waste? Nobody wants it. PERIOD. Tell me, where will we put the spent fuel?
Sure, nuke can be done....... Just not in our back yard.
By Why Not?
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Jimmy Carter & Billy
First the Jimmy Carter era. I think what happened when the Three Mile Island incident happened Carter had a problem of ''trying' to say one thing and it coming out completely different. I remember an interview where he was talking about a reactor that he was in charge of while he was in the Navy and it almost come to a ''melt down'' status. His body language was saying these things are very dangerous and I should know because I was an expert on them. I remember when he was elected they claimed he was the smartest president ever and then we met his family.
By the time, Mr. Carter left office his liberal supporters had the nation very fearful of Nuclear Power. It is interesting to note that we have continued to build and operate U S Navy ships since 1980s with Nuclear Power but until the last few weeks nothing in the civilian world.
I believe that there must be better regulatory control of any future civilian nuclear power programs. Clearly if we just review the mess at the Fernald plant in the Cincinnati area and I believe the cleanup is still on going. Clearly that is a good example of what not to do.
If we follow the lead of the French and the Germans we might find a real workable Nuclear Power program that is safe and is widely accepted by the American Public.
Twenty years ago the French started with ONE design of modest size. They duplicated that design in over 25 locations. As we learned in the Three Mile Island incident operator error was eventually blamed for the shut down. They apparently reacted to an alarm that failed. The value in one design is that you train the operators on the same plant and when you find problems at one site then similar plants can be made aware of the issues. It is also very cost effective to produce the parts and components needed for the plant construction.
On the nuclear waste, the French have developed plants to reprocess the spent fuel rods. They are then used again. I believe that is what they are looking at the Piketon Plant in southern Ohio for.
I am sure there are plenty of US government owned properties out west that span hundreds of miles of desert and no one lives close to these sites. If we dumped all of the wasted generated it would only need a few acres that was prepared and secured from the public.
I know there is going to be an on going scare tactic created to oppose nuclear power. The memories of the American public seem very short. But look at the crisis we have been in over the last few decades. In 1972 the oil embargo. In 1977 the natural gas shortage. Then is 1980 under Jimmy Carter gasoline hit the $1.00 per gallon mark. OUTRAGEOUS!!
With the current technology of the water cooled reactors there has been an ongoing problem with worries about the water supply being interrupted and the fuel rods over heating and starting a chain reaction that could not be stopped by the plant operators. This would then lead to a melt down where it gets so hot that it melted down into the earth.
One new technology is the Air Cooled reactors. They were developed in Germany and they do not have the problem with over heating like the current reactors in used. Currently the U of California at Berkley has some test models under study. When they cut off the air flow they went up to 1600 degrees and stopped getting any hotter. These units can be built underground. They also have some waste concerns but the level of radio activity is much less.
By Big Picture Guy
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