Extreme Nuclear Makeover

[rdean]

Extreme Nuclear Makeover | Product Design and Development

Excellent article on nuclear energy.

 

[JiggsCasey]

no mention of where the adequate supply of high-grade uranium is going to come from.

there isn't enough already, let alone for an expanded nuclear industry.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Why doesn't the U.S. look to France for solutions and implementations when is comes to nukes?

America gets one-fifth of its power from nuclear power plants. Nuclear is far and away the cheapest and most reliable alternative to carbon-emitting coal. Yet we all know that nuclear energy carries one great big negative: the problem of nuclear waste, the radioactive residue from enriched uranium.

Now, suppose there were a solution to this problem? A solution that reduced the amount and the toxicity of nuclear waste by 80 percent or more? That would be useful, right?

Well guess what—it’s doable. Better yet—it’s done.

This week, I visited a facility in Normandy where France reprocesses the water from France’s 58 (soon to be 59) nuclear reactors, as well as waste from reactors in other European Union countries and Japan.

Used uranium is removed from reactor cores and chemically manipulated to restore its radioactivity. This process creates new fuels—and only small amounts of waste byproducts. The process can be repeated a third time and perhaps a fourth.

Yet in the United States, where reprocessing was invented, used uranium is simply discarded.

The result is highly wasteful: The once-used uranium still retains 96 percent of its energy potential. The result is likewise highly dangerous: That 96 percent potent uranium also retains a corresponding proportion of its toxicity to human life. So why do we not reprocess?

France's nuclear solution - THE WEEK

 

[☭proletarian☭]

Don't bother, Z-B.

This country will never use anything but oil because the oil companies own this country.

 

[dilloduck]

Don't bother, Z-B.

This country will never use anything but oil because the oil companies own this country.

Besides---no one wants one in their back yard.

 

[☭proletarian☭]

Don't bother, Z-B.

This country will never use anything but oil because the oil companies own this country.

Besides---no one wants one in their back yard.

Out west, we've huge expanses of dirt where nobody will give a fuck.

Modern nuclear plants, properly regulated and with safety regulations strictly enforced, are safe. Sure, there's always a risk, but drastic improvements have been made since 3 Mile Island.


There are only two snags: Making sure we have enough American sources of nuclear fuel and killing Republicans who keep putting CEOs and VPs of oil companies into political office.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Don't bother, Z-B.

This country will never use anything but oil because the oil companies own this country.

Besides---no one wants one in their back yard.

I have one in my back yard. They just built a huge outlet mall right in the shadows of it. Not a deterrent to living or shopping here. This dang town has exploded with growth in the past 10 years or so.

 

[dilloduck]

Don't bother, Z-B.

This country will never use anything but oil because the oil companies own this country.

Besides---no one wants one in their back yard.

I have one in my back yard. They just built a huge outlet mall right in the shadows of it. Not a deterrent to living or shopping here. This dang town has exploded with growth in the past 10 years or so.

so THAT explains why you glow.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Besides---no one wants one in their back yard.

I have one in my back yard. They just built a huge outlet mall right in the shadows of it. Not a deterrent to living or shopping here. This dang town has exploded with growth in the past 10 years or so.

so THAT explains why you glow.

All night long, baby!

 

[mudwhistle]

no mention of where the adequate supply of high-grade uranium is going to come from.

there isn't enough already, let alone for an expanded nuclear industry.

Buy it from Iran.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

Given the experience of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, Nuke power won't ever come on line again. We had a nuke plant here in Oregon, but the local utility got tired of having to deal with a "close Trojan" initiative every single election cycle, and the fact that the elections were getting closer every time, so they just closed it down and scrapped it back in 1992.

I think Nuclear is a way better option than coal, but the expense of building a plant in the current political climate is prohibitive.

 

[JiggsCasey]

no mention of where the adequate supply of high-grade uranium is going to come from.

there isn't enough already, let alone for an expanded nuclear industry.

Buy it from Iran.

awaiting a serious response, please.

anyhow... there are no silver bullets when it comes to mankind's energy problem. serious cut backs in consumption and profound conservation are inevitable.

we have utterly wasted the greatest natural resource in the history of the world (light crude), and have nothing adequate to replace it.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Don't bother, Z-B.

This country will never use anything but oil because the oil companies own this country.

Besides---no one wants one in their back yard.

Out west, we've huge expanses of dirt where nobody will give a fuck.

Modern nuclear plants, properly regulated and with safety regulations strictly enforced, are safe. Sure, there's always a risk, but drastic improvements have been made since 3 Mile Island.


There are only two snags: Making sure we have enough American sources of nuclear fuel and killing Republicans who keep putting CEOs and VPs of oil companies into political office.

It is not Republicans that killed Nuclear energy. That would be liberal Democrats.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

We had spent millions designing a nuke waste repository.

Obama faced political realities and killed it.

This is something I think would be wonderful, but it just wont happen.

BTW, the big nuclear fuel producer is Exxon. You provide a way for an oil company to make money from energy, they are SO THERE.

 

[☭proletarian☭]

Republicans kill anything that's not oil.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Republicans kill anything that's not oil.

You have provided ZERO proof. The fact is the Democrats killed Nuclear power. California and Oregon leading the way.

 

[☭proletarian☭]

Zero proof? Remember the electric car? And they refuse to even consider wind and solar.

 

[ReAmericaNow]

Don't bother, Z-B.

This country will never use anything but oil because the oil companies own this country.

Besides---no one wants one in their back yard.

I do

 

[ReAmericaNow]

Republicans kill anything that's not oil.

They also like to kill wolves from helicopters

 

[ReAmericaNow]

Until the efficiency of solar and wind, not to mention the efficiency of batteries, can improve. Nuclear is the best alternative. Especially if the research from TerraPower proves as successful as theoretical yields and bench studies.