Nuclear Plant's Fuel Rods Damaged, Leaking Into Sea

[Neenisti]

Quote from ajcrshr:

I think solar thermal plants will become much more prevalent in the future.

. . . as soon as they solve the storage problem.

 

[Grandluxe]

Well,

Tokyo water is now unsafe to drink

 

[MKTrader]

Quote from SomeYoungGuy:

Watching this disaster unfold real time has completely turned me from pro-nuclear power to anti-nuke.

Somebody tell me I'm wrong.

Wait and see. Three Mile Island wasn't nearly as bad as it was (and still is) hyped up to be. If you rely on media hype and emotions to make decisions, you'll fail at analyzing issues like this and be an utter failure at trading.

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from 1flyfisher:

Well Yucca Mountain has been an ongoing battle in itself for decades. When it comes to dealing with nuclear waste it will always come down to a not in my backyard attitude of opposition from which ever state a site is proposed. reid/obama have killed yucca mountain for now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/...dpossessions/nevada/yucca-mountain/index.html
http://reid.senate.gov/issues/yucca.cfm

We have no fuckin energy policy in this country. It is a complete joke. A sad joke.
SOlar, Nuclear, Natural Gas, etc we have no fuckin idea what to do and if we did we wouldn't be able to get it done any how.

Since the Arab oil embargo in the '70s, America has periodically lamented "we have no energy policy". Yeah, and we STILL don't... except to become ever more dependent upon ME oil. How stupid is that? Whose palms are being greased for this stupidity and greed?

And then there's Odumbo... he STOPS all drilling in the Gulf by American companies [environmental reasons, you know]... then loans/gives Brasil $Billions in loans/subsidies/gifts to "drill in the Gulf". He's such a PECKERHEAD! How could you losers have voted him into power??

 

[MKTrader]

Quote from Eight:

Safe energy is solar, wind, natural gas, hydroelectric.. that's about it... Our Mojave Desert is large enough to house solar generating plants that could literally supply all the energy needs of the entire US and Canada, piped out on million volt lines just like it's piped to Southern California from the Pacific Northwest currently...

So far, the technology proposed for solar/wind would only supply a fraction of our energy needs, and comes at a big cost (both $ price and environmental). Obama has sold it like snake oil b/c it sounds great to his drones, but simple math and physics don't jive with "green energy" claims.

If you know of workable, proven, cost-efficient ways to harness this energy (not just theoretical stuff), do tell. Or don't tell and become a billionaire by doing what you claim.

 

[endsongs]

Quote from Cache Landing:

Firstly, I agree with your sentiment. We should be converting to solar and I believe it is only a matter of time. But I feel that there are some misconceptions about solar around so I will make a couple comments.

My family owns one of the largest solar electric companies in the Western US, so I'm more familiar than most with the difficulties.

First, you imply that the hot desert climate makes it ideal for solar power. That is not the case. In fact, PV solar panels experience a loss in production in hot temperatures. Sometimes to the tune of up to 20% loss when you hit temps like 120*F.

The only thing ideal about a desert is that the land is open and cheap to purchase. Also there are less cloudy days than most other locations.

Anyway, some quick math says that in order for Solar to replace all other main forms of electric production, we would need approximately 7 billion solar panels. If I were to approximate the required land space, you would need about 9,000 square miles of open space to accomplish this.

Cost at current prices would be about $9-10 trillion. And that would only take care of the United States.

Anyway, it really makes much more sense to install them on buildings and homes, from both a cost standpoint and national security. I just installed a 6KW system on a new home I'm building and everything said and done, my mortgage increased by about the same amount that I am saving in electricity. Thus there is no payback period; it is a wash from day one.

Imagine during a time of crisis like in Japan right now or during an attack if most buildings were generating their own power. There wouldn't be a crisis because it would not be possible to eliminate power to a whole region at once. So the true benefit of solar is to generate the power at the very site that it will be used, and using grid power as a backup.

Sorry but your land price estimate is way too high. The link below shows there is a lot of private land availabe for ~$200 to $1000 per acre.

http://www.landwatch.com/New_Mexico_land_for_sale/500_Acres?

So, there are ~640 acres per sq mi. Assuming a land cost of ~$500 per acre this gives a total land cost of about $964 billion. Also, I'm sure a lot of the land used would be borrowed from the gov't, which would also reduce the cost.

 

[futuman]

Quote from david666:



Finland has made the most progress with their building of Onkalo 5km deep in a rock mountain which will supposedly last 100,000 years. I trully feel the problem at Fukushima would not have been one tenth as bad if there were no spent fuel rod pools outisde the reactor.

When ready Onkalo will be about 500 not 5000 meters deep. They say bedrock in Finland is very stable and will not crack. However just last week there was a small earthquake. Though the rock is millions of years old, there are cracks and the groundwater flows in these cracks to the sea. They aim to store the dangerous waste in copper capsules which should last forever. In fact the whole idea came from Sweden. Some scientists there say that the capsules will only last a few hundred years due to corrosion. Guess what happens to this radioactive shit when it leaks from the tubes. It will be in the Baltic sea in no time.

 

[MKTrader]

Another possiblity for nukes in the future is using thorium for fuel.
A Nobel laureate named Carlo Rubbia has researched it and says it's cheaper, cleaner and safer than uranium. And the U.S. supposedly has a 1,000 year supply.

http://financialsense.com/contributors/kevin-kerr/hidden-in-plain-site

 

[david666]

Quote from futuman:

When ready Onkalo will be about 500 not 5000 meters deep. They say bedrock in Finland is very stable and will not crack. However just last week there was a small earthquake. Though the rock is millions of years old, there are cracks and the groundwater flows in these cracks to the sea. They aim to store the dangerous waste in copper capsules which should last forever. In fact the whole idea came from Sweden. Some scientists there say that the capsules will only last a few hundred years due to corrosion. Guess what happens to this radioactive shit when it leaks from the tubes. It will be in the Baltic sea in no time.

Yes, I meant 5km of roads which will reach 500 meters deep. I hear they will be using bentonite clay to create a buffer against corrosion. It can abosorb numerours times its dry weight in water. At the same time it will be put in reenforced concrete tubes. While it may not last 100,000 years it is the only thing that comes close to being a permanent solution.

 

[futuman]

Quote from david666:

Yes, I meant 5km of roads which will reach 500 meters deep. I hear they will be using bentonite clay to create a buffer against corrosion. It can abosorb numerours times its dry weight in water. At the same time it will be put in reenforced concrete tubes. While it may not last 100,000 years it is the only thing that comes close to being a permanent solution.

After the last tube is placed in the cave it will be closed permanenently and nobody is allowed to go there ever. If something should go wrong there is no way of knowing. I would say extremely risky and unfair heritage for thousands of future generations.