Author Topic: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?  (Read 1423 times)

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Online Kamaji

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How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« on: April 29, 2022, 10:53:56 pm »
How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?

Robert Zubrin
29 Apr 2022

Editor's note: this is the second in a three-part series on how we can get clean energy. Part I explains the relationship between Fuel and Human Progress, Part II answers the question “Is Nuclear Power Safe?” and Part III provides an answer to “What Needs to Be Done?”

N.B.: See the original article for links to the other parts

A lot of fuss has been raised about nuclear power plants. Some say they emit cancer-causing radiation, that there is no way to dispose of the wastes they produce, that they are prone to catastrophic accidents, and could even be made to explode like bombs. These are serious charges. Let’s investigate them.

Routine Nuclear Power Plant Radiological Emissions

*  *  *

The annual radiation doses that each American can expect to receive from both natural and artificial radiation sources are provided in the table below.

*  *  *

Examining the table, we see that the amount of radiation dose that members of the public receive from nuclear power plants is insignificant compared to what they receive from their own blood (which contains radioactive potassium-40), the homes they live in, the food they eat (watch out for bananas!), the medical care and air travel they enjoy, the planet on which they reside, and the universe in which their planet resides.

*  *  *

Nuclear Waste Disposal

One of the strangest arguments against nuclear power is the claim that there is nothing that can be done with the waste. In fact, the compact nature of the limited waste produced by nuclear energy makes it uniquely attractive. A single 1000 MWe coal-fired power plant produces about 600 tons of highly toxic waste daily, more than the entire American nuclear industry does in a year. The portion of this that is not simply sent up the stack piles up near the power plant, or is dumped somewhere else, eventually finding its way into the biosphere. Despite the clear, non-hypothetical consequences of this large-scale toxic pollution, no one is even talking about establishing a waste isolation facility for this material, because it is not remotely possible. In contrast to such an intractable problem, the disposal of nuclear waste is trivial.

It must be said: The hazards of nuclear waste disposal have been exaggerated by environmentalists, with the openly stated purpose of seeking to create a showstopper for the nuclear industry. They claim to be interested in public safety and ecological preservation. Neither claim is supportable.

*  *  *

Nuclear accidents

Nuclear accidents are certainly possible, but rare. Throughout its entire history, the world’s commercial nuclear industry has had three major accidents: Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979; Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986; and at Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.

*  *  *

The 2011 Fukushima accident was much more serious. Caused by a powerful undersea earthquake and the resulting tsunami that buffeted the facility with waves nearly fifty feet high, the power plant flooded, and both grid power and the on-site backup diesel generators were knocked out, eliminating the emergency core cooling system. This eventually led to full meltdowns of three of the six reactors. Nevertheless, if anything, the Fukushima event proved the safety of nuclear power. Amid a disaster that killed some 28,000 people by drowning, collapsing buildings, fire, suffocation, exposure, disease, and many other causes, not a single person was killed by radiation. Nor was anyone outside the plant gate exposed to any significant radiological dose.

*  *  *

Can Reactors Explode Like Bombs?

In a word, no.

*  *  *

Nuclear Proliferation

But can’t the industrial infrastructure used to produce three percent enriched fuel for nuclear reactors also be used to make 90 percent enriched material for bombs?

Yes, it can. It is also true, however, that such facilities could be used to make bomb-grade material without supporting any nuclear reactors.

*  *  *

Source:  https://quillette.com/2022/04/29/how-we-can-get-clean-energy-part-ii/

Offline roamer_1

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2022, 11:19:03 pm »
NOPE.

Until the waste can be reasonably treated and some form of effective site cleanup can restore the land from accidents, I will remain opposed.

Until real solutions are found for these two things, petroleum makes more sense.

Online DefiantMassRINO

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2022, 11:28:37 pm »
According to Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima - NOPE.
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Online Hoodat

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #3 on: April 30, 2022, 12:33:09 am »
There's already a solution for waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.  Former Senate Majority Leader steered $9 billion in taxpayer money researching and preparing the site before killing the project outright.
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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2022, 12:34:32 am »
According to Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima - NOPE.

According to two out of three, It ain't bad.
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Offline roamer_1

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2022, 12:39:16 am »
There's already a solution for waste disposal at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.  Former Senate Majority Leader steered $9 billion in taxpayer money researching and preparing the site before killing the project outright.

Anytime you are burying something so vile that one has to consider that your language may be long gone before the danger of the stuff has worn off... Prompting one to create pictograms to transmit the warning... Well that is no solution.

Waste disposal is no solution Waste conversion is.

Online Hoodat

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2022, 01:02:26 am »
Anytime you are burying something so vile that one has to consider that your language may be long gone before the danger of the stuff has worn off...

They had that in mind when they chose the Yucca site.


Waste disposal is no solution Waste conversion is.

That would require a breeder reactor.  There are only a handful of them operating in the world, and none in the US.

If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.     -Dwight Eisenhower-

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Offline roamer_1

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2022, 01:18:24 am »
They had that in mind when they chose the Yucca site.

Yes. And science is never fraught with unintended consequences.

Quote
That would require a breeder reactor.  There are only a handful of them operating in the world, and none in the US.

I don't care what it involves. We should not be messin with it until we can fix it. And note that I have only beeen talking about structure - The land... I have not said a thing about people and animals caught in some calamity. I understand that calamities happen, and people die. That's one thing.

Wrecking sh*t for centuries because of unintended consequences is simply the wrong thing to do.

Stick with petroleum until the cards are all face up... Whatever will finally eclipse petroleum will come along in its time. When it is ready, petroleum will simply fold up because it should. What is superior will come.


Offline ironhorsedriver

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2022, 11:16:05 am »
They never seem to talk about Hydro power. Isn't it the truly clean power? There are dams all over, that don't produce power, convert them. Won't solve all problems, but will reduce them.

Offline roamer_1

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #9 on: April 30, 2022, 11:51:15 am »
They never seem to talk about Hydro power. Isn't it the truly clean power? There are dams all over, that don't produce power, convert them. Won't solve all problems, but will reduce them.

Another thing they really only do big. Think of what that could be, miniaturized and distributed. Yeah, it can do anything current electric production can do.

Online Hoodat

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2022, 03:05:59 pm »
They never seem to talk about Hydro power.

Liberals do.  For the past decade, they have been busy tearing down hydro dams and restoring the emptied lakes to their former state.
If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.     -Dwight Eisenhower-

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2022, 09:46:32 pm »
This issue isn't hard to understand.

After Fukushima, most people just don't want nuclear power.
Things normally go great.
Until..... POOF!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO_w8tCn9gU

Online Kamaji

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2022, 09:50:08 pm »
This issue isn't hard to understand.

After Fukushima, most people just don't want nuclear power.
Things normally go great.
Until..... POOF!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO_w8tCn9gU


Demonstrating the essential irrationality of people.  As the article states, "not a single person was killed by radiation. Nor was anyone outside the plant gate exposed to any significant radiological dose."

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2022, 11:07:50 pm »
The French have done it for years, safely. I'm sure we could improve on it still.

Thorium interests me. I know the Chinese are working on it.
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Online Kamaji

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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2022, 02:56:00 pm »
The French have done it for years, safely. I'm sure we could improve on it still.

Thorium interests me. I know the Chinese are working on it.


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Re: How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
« Reply #15 on: May 01, 2022, 10:10:34 pm »
The French have done it for years, safely. I'm sure we could improve on it still.

Thorium interests me. I know the Chinese are working on it.

We have been doing it for a LONG time as well but there are a LOT of people on K Street who do not want and will not allow it for the masses. 
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