Nuclear Power

[republic]

Maybe I'm a dummy, but why are we so leery of nuclear power in the US when thousands of sailors sleep a few feet away from a nuclear reactor for months on end?  There was the fire on the Enterprise in Vietnam and no telling how many Soviet subs that were rear ended with no loss of containment.  Heck we've launched them into space and the Voyagers are still working 30 years later.

So why is my electric bill so high?  Sell me a micro-reactor to put next to my propane tank!

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Thorium reactors should be the next big thing.  With a properly designed lifter station, it should be easy to set up small, modular reactors fairly quickly.  Thorium is naturally abundant and the waste byproduct is much less nasty than one gets from a uranium reactor.  The Chinese are busy stockpiling reserves of Thorium found in the tailings of their rare earth mines.  The Americans are dumping theirs in lead lined wate pits in Nevada.

[Staggerwing]

Micro-reacters actually make more sense since any catastrophe would be mitigated by their small size and fuel content. Large nuclear plants are still a concern (estimates of health effects from Chernobyl are between a low of 6000 and as high as 900,000, depending on the organization making the estimate) and I don't trust any organization to safely manage them in great numbers, business or gov't. Three Mile Island was a very close call, after all ( the core was at critical temp and half the fuel had already melted by the time plant operators were able to bring the temperature down again).

[republic]

Its just annoying than whenever nuclear energy is discussed on the news, they never mention the navy.  Of course at this point, I shouldn't be able to be disappointed any further by the TV news outlets...

I mean the USS San Francisco hit an underwater mountain at 30+ knots with no reactor issue.

[GDS_Starfury]

Im still amazed that sub didnt sink.
and Im all for nuclear power.

[eyebiter]

Why are folks leery of Civilian nuclear power?  Accidents at Fukushima, Chernobyl, or Three Mile island? The NRC allowing a company to build a plant directly over a major fault line @Diablo Canyon?. Having a reactor in Nebraska nearly drown in a flood a few years back?  Or perhaps it's the long term question of what do do with decades of accumulated radioactive waste, some of which has a Half-Life of 10,000+ years.

Going forward there needs to be a major advancement in reactor design away from the water cooled highly radioactive plants of the 1950's and 1960's. Something cleaner, less complex, and without using uranium or plutonium.  Perhaps a hybrid fusion design using deuterium refined from seawater and Helium 3?

[Staggerwing]

Helium 3?

Moonbase, FTW!

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Its just annoying than whenever nuclear energy is discussed on the news, they never mention the navy.  Of course at this point, I shouldn't be able to be disappointed any further by the TV news outlets...

I mean the USS San Francisco hit an underwater mountain at 30+ knots with no reactor issue.

Talk about a broken nose!

[besilarius]

"Ve bild zem gud in Chermany, eh Heinie?" - the Enemy Below

[Barthheart]

The French have been using mostly nuclear power for decades with no problems what so ever.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/France/#.UdDPAcu9KSM
Surely if the French can do it we over here can.

Civilian nuclear power is the way to go. I just don't the frightened little rabbit response either.
Fusion power is a very long way off. Storage of the waste products has been going on underground for years now with no problems.

[eyebiter]

.

[LongBlade]

Japan plans to use an ice barrier to contain radioactive ground water at the Fukushima reactor site
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/japan-build-ice-barrier-around-fukushima-nuclear-ruins-8C11067684

You would think that the Japanese would be more careful about mixing nukes and oceans.

[airboy]

Nuclear reactors with containment vessels (Three Mile Island) are much safer than those without (see USSR).

Still, both those and the Japanese reactor show that a multi billion dollar investment can be ruined.  Nuke plants are more expensive than gas plants or coal plants (despite Obama's wish to kill coal).

But nukes produce less "evil carbon" which the bunny huggers should like - except they don't.

Still, you run the odds of a nuke plant being ruined with a massive drain on cash flow plus the loss of a multi-billion dollar investment and the math does not work right now.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

Nuclear reactors with containment vessels (Three Mile Island) are much safer than those without (see USSR).

Still, both those and the Japanese reactor show that a multi billion dollar investment can be ruined.  Nuke plants are more expensive than gas plants or coal plants (despite Obama's wish to kill coal).

But nukes produce less "evil carbon" which the bunny huggers should like - except they don't.

Still, you run the odds of a nuke plant being ruined with a massive drain on cash flow plus the loss of a multi-billion dollar investment and the math does not work right now.

Agree.

Let us know when you have a fusion reactor that creates gold.

[Staggerwing]

Or Bacon...