We need more nuclear power plants..

[heartsurgeon]

Assuming you believe in global warming, assuming you believe in the need to reduce carbon emissions, explain to me how we're going to "make things better" without extensive use of Nuclear.

My supposition is that:
1) our energy consumption will increase, not decrease in the future.
2) "solar" "wind" "biomass" and all those other hippie power producing ideas have been around for >40 years, and just are not capable of doing the job.
3) new hydro is not likely.
4) hydrogen? i'll believe it when i can buy it at the corner store...

Nuclear....technology has advanced, France generates nearly all of it's domestic electricity with nukes, as does Japan.

What should we do?
nobody is going to reduce power consumption (trust me, i'm old enough to know this..i "conserve" more than my liberal kids, who leave their computers on 24/7 (if i don't turn them off), turn the a/c down lower whenever possible, leave house lights and fans on,...you get my drift.) Conservation is great, but i don't see anyone from this generation doing it any better than mine, and actually maybe worse!

 

[Strk]

It would be nice if we decided to build that fusion reactor that is up for grabs by France or Japan.

 

[kaizersose]

because too much fear of nuclear reactors has been generated in this country. anyone even hears 'nuclear' and they plan a protest.

 

[LunarRay]

Ah... HS... we agree..

I'd have a nuclear plant in every city if it would eliminate dependence on foreign oil.
In fact, we'd be able to justify electric powered cars.
I'd eleminate all oil consuming vehicles over the next 15 years.

 

[glenn1]

Nuclear....technology has advanced, France generates nearly all of it's domestic electricity with nukes, as does Japan.

That's novel... I didn't expect to find a conservative pointing towards France as an example for the United States.

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: kaizersose
because too much fear of nuclear reactors has been generated in this country. anyone even hears 'nuclear' and they plan a protest.

Well idiots will protest about anything and everything. There was even some idiot on the news protest wind power because it was going to replace a rusting radar station and damage his "view shed"

 

[heartsurgeon]

That's novel... I didn't expect to find a conservative pointing towards France as an example for the United States.

I love French cooking, and really, it's only the Parisienne's that are abhorant little cheese eating surrender monkeys. The rest of the Frenchies are regular folk. If you ever go there..my advice..do the tourist stuff in Paris as fast as possible, and get out to the rest of France. You'll like that better.

 

[Martin]

Nuclear is good, but there's no need to write off wind. The danes get 15% of their power through wind and are constantly improving their tech.

 

[SwissArmyBilly]

HS, We agree on something, more nuclear power plants would be a good thing. There are some problems though. Yes france produces 77% of its electricity from nuclear power, but it does so useing different reactors that are illeagal in the US. I believe they are called breeder reactors and they produce a very small percentage of the waste that conventional nuclear reactors do which is wonderful, but the waste can be made into weapons grade plutonium, or some other NUke device. That is why our government doesnt want anything to do with them.

Nuke reactors would be a start in the right direction but it is far from an answer to our problems. The amt of fissonable material on the planet is finite just like oil. It WILL run out eventually, and it does produce pretty nasty biproducts that must be carefully stored.

The wind, solar, biomass, and other alternative energies are not a lost cause. They have been around for 40 years but they have been stiffled and ignored for much of that time. Even with that wind power today is competative especially in NE and west coast markets. (energy prices are high there) today it only costs about 4 cents per kilowatt hour to produce wind power in decent sites. There are alot of interesting ways of producing power without increaseing the harm to the environment.

New hydro is not the answer. you are right

Hydrogen is a joke

Billy

 

[Gand1]

Damn!!! I think this is the first thread where I agree with HS whole heartedly!

Hmmm.... no pun intended.



You yokels need to get out of the country more and stop being such isolationists!

 

[heartsurgeon]

The wind, solar, biomass, and other alternative energies are not a lost cause. They have been around for 40 years but they have been stiffled and ignored for much of that time

Oh please....they've been studied and subsidized and NOTHING has come out of it that will address the problem at hand...don't get me wrong, if you want to put a solar heater on your swimming pool, or a heat pump in your back yard...go ahead and spend your own money..i applaud your convictions, but nearly nothing of actual comercial success has come out of any of that hippie era power generation ideas...i think 40 years is enough time to "get it right" The only thing "stiffling" wind power is it's lack of commerecial success...and now the enviro-wackos are against it too. last i read, a wind farm off nantucket was being attacked by libs who don't like the view from their expensive island homes (walter chronkite) altered, and the fear that it will "kill birds".

If nuclear isn't the answer...what is?
nobody is cutting back on energy usage, and wait until china and india start needing more energy..i believe they have large indigenous coal reserves..the most poluting carbon fuel on the planet.....they're gonna start burning it like crazy when they need more energy, and oil prices go up....either that or they will go nuclear as well.

 

[Moonbeam]

Clean up and safely store all waste radiation from all nuclear sites around the world. Build containment facilities that are safe for the lifetime of the waste we will create. When all issues of future storage of waste oar solved and in place start building new reactors. Nuclear power is a joke because humans are pigs. They want what they can get today and leave the mess for others tomorrow. Nuclear waste is toxic for thousands and thousands of years. You are not so important that you should poison the future.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Originally posted by: heartsurgeon

The wind, solar, biomass, and other alternative energies are not a lost cause. They have been around for 40 years but they have been stiffled and ignored for much of that time

Oh please....they've been studied and subsidized and NOTHING has come out of it that will address the problem at hand...don't get me wrong, if you want to put a solar heater on your swimming pool, or a heat pump in your back yard...go ahead and spend your own money..i applaud your convictions, but nearly nothing of actual comercial success has come out of any of that hippie era power generation ideas...i think 40 years is enough time to "get it right" The only thing "stiffling" wind power is it's lack of commerecial success...and now the enviro-wackos are against it too. last i read, a wind farm off nantucket was being attacked by libs who don't like the view from their expensive island homes (walter chronkite) altered, and the fear that it will "kill birds".

If nuclear isn't the answer...what is?
nobody is cutting back on energy usage, and wait until china and india start needing more energy..i believe they have large indigenous coal reserves..the most poluting carbon fuel on the planet.....they're gonna start burning it like crazy when they need more energy, and oil prices go up....either that or they will go nuclear as well.

Well, not really. Wind is still going to be a good way of harnessing energy in a friendly way. The Biomass stuff has made tremendous strides in it's recent history. There was a study done a while back that ethanol cost more to make than it was worth. That's not true anymore. I believe the energy ratio is up over 1.5(it was said to be 1.24 in 1999)or something like that now. Biodiesel similarly can be used as an alternative to foreign oil and IMO should be used as an additive for all diesel in the country. It could help kill two birds with one stone. Farm subsidies(because they'd have a constant cash crop) and dependence on foreign oil.

However, I do believe that you are correct about the Nuke plants. I'd much rather see those than coal or other types. I just don't think you need to denigrate the renewable sources we have available to promote the nuclear side.

CkG

 

[DealMonkey]

Can we make them terrorist-proof while we're at it? I'd hate to see more ground targets created for AQ.

 

[alphatarget1]

I was reading popular science about some sort of uranium balls covered by graphite and they're supposed to be fool proof...

yeah, if they can find a fesible way to dump nuclear wastes, I'm all for it. maybe build more bombs and use them against aliens when they come visit us

 

[MovingTarget]

Heartsurgeon, I applaud you on this thread! I completely agree. Its sad though, as I don't see more nuke plants going up anytime soon. How long has it been since the last plant was constructed? 20 years at least? The existing plants have expanded to keep up with demand, but it is not plausible to keep things going with our current number of generation facilities. If the government really wants to invest in the future, they need to get on the ball when it comes to this research with fusion. We are letting an international reactor be built in France/Japan? Why not here? We have extensive nuclear research facilities. (too bad that supercollider in TX was shut down during construction in 93...we could really be reaping the benefits of that right about now) Once this technology becomes commercially viable, then true energy dependance is right around the corner. If we really applied ourselves to this matter of energy dependance (also a legitimate matter of national security both economically, environmentally, and militarily), this could be done within 10 years or so. A lofty goal, but still doable within that time period...

 

[lozina]

Nuclear power is the best thing we have going for us. and I agree with the other poster about wind, solar & biomass. Keep developing & researching them and they will only get better. how can you argue with free energy? The sun and wind are not going to run out, and if they do- generating power will be the last thing to worry about

 

[Spencer278]

I don't think renewable energy will ever provide more then 10% of power needs. Biomass in the form of wood is a succisfull way to generate power in vermont. http://www.catenergy.com/projects/equinox.html and alot of people uses it to heat their homes. The biggest problem is it is very hard to get biomass products denses enough to be pratical.

 

[eigen]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Clean up and safely store all waste radiation from all nuclear sites around the world. Build containment facilities that are safe for the lifetime of the waste we will create. When all issues of future storage of waste oar solved and in place start building new reactors. Nuclear power is a joke because humans are pigs. They want what they can get today and leave the mess for others tomorrow. Nuclear waste is toxic for thousands and thousands of years. You are not so important that you should poison the future.

Stop posting on the internet, you are using electricity and killing gaia. She is crying moonbeam don't you here her tears fall as we rape her for her coal and oil...You remind me of Ellsworth Toohey.

I am in total agreement with this thread. We need more nuclear power plants. Politicians should be jumping at the chance to build more plants. So why are'nt they , public fear of the N word, Big Oil , Big Mining, don't care.So what do you guys think.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: eigen

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Clean up and safely store all waste radiation from all nuclear sites around the world. Build containment facilities that are safe for the lifetime of the waste we will create. When all issues of future storage of waste oar solved and in place start building new reactors. Nuclear power is a joke because humans are pigs. They want what they can get today and leave the mess for others tomorrow. Nuclear waste is toxic for thousands and thousands of years. You are not so important that you should poison the future.

Stop posting on the internet, you are using electricity and killing gaia. She is crying moonbeam don't you here her tears fall as we rape her for her coal and oil...You remind me of Ellsworth Toohey.

I am in total agreement with this thread. We need more nuclear power plants. Politicians should be jumping at the chance to build more plants. So why are'nt they , public fear of the N word, Big Oil , Big Mining, don't care.So what do you guys think.

Maybe if you could read you would notice that I'm all for nuclear when we have the answer to nuclear waste. If you want to say something intelligent to me address nuclear waste.

 

[alchemize]

Hemp, you fools, hemp!

 

[BugsBunny1078]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: eigen

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Clean up and safely store all waste radiation from all nuclear sites around the world. Build containment facilities that are safe for the lifetime of the waste we will create. When all issues of future storage of waste oar solved and in place start building new reactors. Nuclear power is a joke because humans are pigs. They want what they can get today and leave the mess for others tomorrow. Nuclear waste is toxic for thousands and thousands of years. You are not so important that you should poison the future.

Stop posting on the internet, you are using electricity and killing gaia. She is crying moonbeam don't you here her tears fall as we rape her for her coal and oil...You remind me of Ellsworth Toohey.

I am in total agreement with this thread. We need more nuclear power plants. Politicians should be jumping at the chance to build more plants. So why are'nt they , public fear of the N word, Big Oil , Big Mining, don't care.So what do you guys think.

Maybe if you could read you would notice that I'm all for nuclear when we have the answer to nuclear waste. If you want to say something intelligent to me address nuclear waste.

Nuclear waste no problem we can just bury it in Iraq.

 

[GoodToGo]

Originally posted by: BugsBunny1078

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: eigen

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Clean up and safely store all waste radiation from all nuclear sites around the world. Build containment facilities that are safe for the lifetime of the waste we will create. When all issues of future storage of waste oar solved and in place start building new reactors. Nuclear power is a joke because humans are pigs. They want what they can get today and leave the mess for others tomorrow. Nuclear waste is toxic for thousands and thousands of years. You are not so important that you should poison the future.

Stop posting on the internet, you are using electricity and killing gaia. She is crying moonbeam don't you here her tears fall as we rape her for her coal and oil...You remind me of Ellsworth Toohey.

I am in total agreement with this thread. We need more nuclear power plants. Politicians should be jumping at the chance to build more plants. So why are'nt they , public fear of the N word, Big Oil , Big Mining, don't care.So what do you guys think.

Maybe if you could read you would notice that I'm all for nuclear when we have the answer to nuclear waste. If you want to say something intelligent to me address nuclear waste.

Nuclear waste no problem we can just bury it in Iraq.

Or launch it towards the sun, that ought to be an interesting display of fireworks

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Modern reactor designs (breeder reactors) produce much less waste then previous ones. Waste isn't as much of a factor as polititians carreers being ruined.

 

[heartsurgeon]

I am getting a HUGH chuckle out of this thread.

when i was "young" if you were a liberal (and who wasn't back then?) and said you were in favor of nuclear power - you would have been labled mentally unstable, a Goldwater Republican (that's to the right of a NeoCon Republican for those of you who don't know who Goldwater was), and there would have been no hippie-chicks for you!

Wind, solar and biomass were going to "save the planet" - Earth Day was HUGH...
well, the relative contribution to our energy use by these "technologies" is prety minimal, some 40 years later.....as a former "tree-hugger" these technologies have let me down. If i sound a little bitter about it, it''s because i've been "mugged by reality"

now, all you liberals seem to be just fine with nuclear!! i guess the "global warming" mantra has had a salutory effect..it's scared the liberals into liking nuclear!! in a historical context, this is an amazing turnabout in liberal thinking....