Is Nuclear Power Too Dangerous?

[Krugerrand]

I believe this article has been referenced before ... but if this guy it right, nuclear power will quickly become obsolete.

"Ocean Pressure Electric Conversion"
In Mr. Dickson's invention, cold, deep water under tremendous pressure is used to compress air in a cylinder at normal atmospheric pressure. The resulting air pressure is relieved to drive a piston, which then pumps water to the surface to drive a turbine. In many respects, the device resembles a Stirling Engine; but instead of heat, water pressure is used to drive the turbine. Since water pressure is constant, Mr.Dickson says that this new power source is inexhaustible, non-polluting, environmentally benign, and can provide hydroelectric power for most of the world's countries.
http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200902/1234684090.html
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperba...?productTrackingContext=center_search_results

 

[SevenEyedJeff]

Does this change RPF'ers view of nuclear energy being safe? Today shows that you never know what could happen, despite all the safeguards.

The poll results taken from Feb. 2010 show 8% saying nuclear power is too dangerous, 82% say it isn't too dangerous, with 10% uncommitted.

 

[Matt Collins]

Well building a nuclear power plant in an earthquake zone isn't the brightest of ideas.

 

[ChaosControl]

I'm not sure.
I prefer standard renewable energies, but I also realize they aren't developed enough to provide all our needs, and I certainly want to get off oil ASAP, so.... I don't know.

 

[CableNewsJunkie]

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/

"Even better, Weinberg realized that you could use thorium in an entirely new kind of reactor, one that would have zero risk of meltdown. The design is based on the lab’s finding that thorium dissolves in hot liquid fluoride salts. This fission soup is poured into tubes in the core of the reactor, where the nuclear chain reaction — the billiard balls colliding — happens. The system makes the reactor self-regulating: When the soup gets too hot it expands and flows out of the tubes — slowing fission and eliminating the possibility of another Chernobyl. Any actinide can work in this method, but thorium is particularly well suited because it is so efficient at the high temperatures at which fission occurs in the soup."

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/

 

[tpreitzel]

No, but freer markets would likely lead to more and better options...

 

[Acala]

Hasn't changed my mind yet, but no harm done yet. Ask me again if this reactor melts down and has a significant radiation leak.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Nuclear energy is just a very complicated way to boil water to create steam to turn a turbine- as electricity generation has done for over 100 years. In its operation, the reactors have shown themselves to be pretty safe so far. The biggest problem is what to do with the waste produced. That lasts for thousands or hundreds of thousands of years. Get it too densely stored and it can spontaneously combust. France may get a larger percent of its energy from nuclear power but most people don't realize that the US has the largest number of atomic reactors of any country. France does some recycling but also ships waste to other coutries like Germany and Russia. http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-05/...ers-block-anti-nuclear-protesters?_s=PM:WORLD and they intend to bury some http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100810/full/466804a.html

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Here's a nice website to enlighten your knowledge: Science of Conflict Nuclear Power Etc.

http://www.dynamicscience.com.au/tester/solutions/war/nuclearpower.htm

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[Icymudpuppy]

Just unload all the waste into the Marianas trench. The critters living the deepest livable parts of that abyss are already some freaky looking things, and even they are miles above the deepest parts. Dense salt water is an excellent radiation shield and is used in every reactor I've had the opportunity to work around.

 

[Rothbardian Girl]

I would support it 100% if I had a clue what to do with all the waste, and if responsibility were shifted from government and other large corporations to smaller businesses, which have more of an incentive to keep everything on the up-and-up. Just dumping waste somewhere in the ocean is not going to make it go away, no matter how deep and dark it is down there. The best option I could see is burying it inside some mountain somewhere (I think Yucca Mountain was planned for this, then mysteriously dismissed as an option?). Waste disposal is probably going to be expensive, however. There just aren't very easy solutions out there, I guess.

I would prefer to focus on renewable options such as hydrogen fuel cells, which are very expensive and perhaps unwieldy at present but seem to cover all the bases - non-polluting, relatively safe to transport, renewable if using electrolysis, etc. The biggest issue is cost refinement and streamlining things in the design and such, if I'm not mistaken.

Unfortunately, in some situations everything seems to go wrong in terms of glitches, laziness, people not operating the machines correctly, etc... This makes me a little apprehensive about expanding the use of nuclear power. It's obviously a very dangerous thing if not handled correctly, as we've seen in a few incidents before.

 

[Ray]

Think about how many people have died mining coal and due to pollution from coal compared to how many people have did in nuclear accidents.

 

[kahless]

Well building a nuclear power plant in an earthquake zone isn't the brightest of ideas.

No different here. I live near one built right on the Ramapo fault line.

 

[kahless]

Think about how many people have died mining coal and due to pollution from coal compared to how many people have did in nuclear accidents.

You do not hear about the effects of cummulative releases into surrounding communities and what happens to the laborers at these plants. The one I lived next to has a horrible safety record and we have the highest cancer rates in the country.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Just like anything else, nuclear technology has certain "sunk costs" that may be difficult to perceive at a quick glance.

When everything is working perfectly, it is clean and efficient.

When it goes bad, for whatever reason, it is not.

Then again, you could have just as much potential death and mayhem from a failure of a modern refinery or chemical plant.

The Bhopal, India Union Carbide disaster killed more people than Chernobyl, IIRC.

 

[MN Patriot]

Every disaster ensmartens people.
Nuclear energy fascinates me, wish I were 18 again and redo college. Not sure I could handle the advanced physics.
Tickling the dragon's tail would be a good movie title. Also known as criticality accident.

 

[Fox McCloud]

I have no problem with nuclear power provided that it's not subsidized, at all, by the government; currently, it is---the government pays for the power plant's insurance, which makes it artificially cheap. On top of this, often times, the State governments help finance the plant itself, as it's very expensive to build them.

That said, we also make nuclear power unviable; we're not allowed to recycle nuclear waste here in the US (thanks to Carter, who acted upon the fear that "terrorists could build atomic bombs with it"), which does make it less economically efficient. If we did recycle, I'm sure it'd bring the cost down.

I'm neutral on nuclear power; if its viable in an open market, then go for it...if not, forget it.

 

[pcosmar]

How about nice, safe Propane.

I could post hundreds of pics and stories. Just google "Propane explosion" and spend hours reading.

 

[Andrew-Austin]

I don't know shit about nuclear power, so I can't say. Cold fusion sounds cool though, hoping they get that working and nuke plants are made obsolete.

The nuclear plants that are acting up in Japan are old, from the sixties, so maybe the newer ones are safer?

How about nice, safe Propane.

I could post hundreds of pics and stories. Just google "Propane explosion" and spend hours reading.

 

[Anti Federalist]

How about nice, safe Propane.

I could post hundreds of pics and stories. Just google "Propane explosion" and spend hours reading.

Cordwood FTW.