Nuclear power a good idea?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Amazing that the greenies fight against new coal plants, but protest any nuclear plants. I suppose they don't have electricity at home?

The stigma attached to nuclear power is for the same reasons we don't have many diesels in the USA: the general populus consists of stupid sheep, who are too lazy to educate themselves on the facts related to the issues. Objections to nuclear power are a result of fear-mongering, and not related in any way to facts. In it's modern form nuclear power does not harm the environment, is very safe, and highly efficient. In my opinion, all of our highly polluting coal plants should be replaced with nuclear power, supplemented by solar, wind, and hydrodynamic power where feasible. It's sustainable, and will reduce dependence on foreign oil for those who use heating oil in their homes.

[jjone20]

Blame Hanoi Jane. She made that movie, China Syndrome, at exactly the right time. I don't believe technology can solve everything, human behavior for example, but I do think that technologically we can make the level of risk from nuclear power acceptably low. What's acceptable? In our risk-averse society, that's the real question, isn't it?

[Jim Richards]

Blame an actress for her role in a movie? Why not blame the screenwriter, or the grip, or the electrician, or the catering service hired for that movie? I'm sure you can formulate an argument on this topic, but the one you tossed out here ain't it.

Three Mile Island and (especially) Chernobyl are the examples. When you have dollar signs and people involved, the protential for problems increase. If they are well reined in, it can be a viable source of much needed energy for our nation.

[MT930]

Highly efficient and cost effective, you do need to be careful with it. With our appetite for oil we don't have a lot of options. Solar, hydro, wind are under utilized as well. I have no fear of nuke plants. It's clean power.

[jjone20]

Sorry, was it humor that was supposed to be in green or sarcasm, I forget.

[Jim Richards]

Ha!

[sammyg2]

A couple other things that need to be thrown out while we are on the subject:
I've worked in 2 nuke plants and this is what i've personally seen: the simplist task that should take a half hour to complete can take 3 weeks, because of the incredible amount of oversight, procedures, inspection, redundancy, and total and complete dedication to take human error out of the realm of possibility.

Here's an example:
In a normal plant if a welder needs to weld a pipe, he gets a drawing, some welding rod from the warehouse, a work permit, and starts welding.
In the nuke plant, the welder got a job to do so he took a weld procedure test that he has taken a thousand times. He was given a pre-determined amount of welding rod that has detailed records of the alloys including a stagering amount of reports on the testing of the alloys in the rods, and certifications of where those alloys were mined, processed, refined, blended, etc. Up to 80 signatures per welding rod.
The rods each have a serial number stamped onto them for tracking and each rod is tracked cradle to grave.
The number of rods issued to the welder and the serial numbers are recorded, so that when he is done he has to return every single unused rod and every single used stub must be returned to quality control (whis watched by another quality inspector). If the werlder fails to return all the stubs or returns a stub with the wrong serial number, or brings back too many unused rods, all heck breaks loose and he's probably looking for a new job or worse.
The weld itself can take 20 times longer than normal because each and every pass is completely inspected visually as well as x-rayed. He has at least two guys watching him weld to make sure he's donig it right. The running joke is that nuke plants emmit more radiation from x-raying welds than they do from the unranium.

I have been patted down by armed security guards 20 times a day while working on one of the giant turbines to make sure there is absolutely no chance of FOD. The first day the guy duct taped my wrist watch to my wrist to make sure it didn't fall off while i was working on the open turbine in the resicted area. the next day I left the watch in my truck.
Working in containment is even more strict. They provide clothes to wear and you are escorted AT ALL TIMES by an armed guard. If he can't see you even for a split second then you are in violation and subject to investigation and disciplinary action.
Hard hats are tied to your belt loop, safety glasses are tied to your hard hat, every single tool is tied to your wrist and tracked and if you take it in, you take it out. If not you are sitting in a room with 4 NRC guys with no sense of humor.
nothing happens without training on a procedure and a test to make sure you understand it.
Because of all the redundancy and multiple layers of checks and balances it would be very difficult or impossible to circumvent the process and cur corners. Even with that increduble amount of inefficiency, they are still more cost effective than fossil fuel plants.

It isn't like on the simpsons.

[Jim Richards]

That's the kind of information that doesn't seem to be effectively impressed upon the general public. It would go a long way towards making people more confident about nuke plans being establihed in their locale.

[legion]

Yep, my neighbor across the street is on the maintenance crew for the nuke plant. He does pipe welding, mostly.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by svandamme

Well, our Navy seems to run the Aircraft carriers fine on it.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by ckissick

Maybe three eyes is a good thing.

you can see the evil-doers a whole lot better

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

Well, our Navy seems to run the Aircraft carriers fine on it.

No no no! The third one is supposed to be in the middle of her back ...... for slow dancing.

[Hawktel]

My mother grew up about 35 miles from the Hanford Nuclear plant, close to Hermiston Oregon.

She was born in 1948. She died in 2001. 49 years old. Her mother, my Grandmother is fine at 78. Her grandmother, my great Grandmother died at 98 a few years ago.

She died of a bunch of issues. Diabetes. Fibromyalgyia. A bunch of other thing I can't even pronounce.

When she was 8, she talked about how a bright, neon yellow cloud came over the place she lived. How the Government men came and talked to everyone in the valley, how they told people it was a radiation leak. My grandmother confirmed the story. They lived on the banks of the Columbia river. At this time its estimated the plant was dumping ~50,000 curies into the river daily, and conducting tests on releasing iodine 131 into the air.

When she was 10 she had some issues with her thyroid, and eventually something on her neck started growing odd. She eventually had some kind of tumor there. It got at large as a softball. My Grandmother worked as a nurse, and convinced a Doctor to remove it. It took 8 operations to remove it. The final operation they though it might kill her. She made it. She had a very large scar in her neck from the operation.

Her younger sister, my Aunt died when she was 28 in a car crash. She also had some odd health issues. Her older sister was 8 years older, and has a bunch of heath problems. Mostly odd issues the Doctors have a hard time diagnosing.

I don't know if my mothers troubles were due to growing up that close to a poorly run prototype nuclear plant when she was young. I think chances are though at least some of it was.

I support nuclear power 100%. The price has been paid. It's time to exploit it for as much as we can.

[sammyg2]

When they were first playing around with nuclear power they had no clue how dangerous it was. Folks from the manhatten project were unknowingly exposed to near letahal doses.

The first working reactor/generator was known as experimental Breeder Reactor #1 (EBR1) near Arco, Idaho and came online on December 20, 1951.
It experienced a partial meltdown in 1955, irradiating the workers who had no idea how dangerous the stuff was that they were getting exposed to.

We've come along way since then.

[YTNUKLR]

You guys should be president. No, seriously.

I am amazed how overwhelmingly positive the PPOT thinks of Nuclear. I would have expected a more diverse cross-section of opinions.

Vewy intuhvestink.

Btw , does the 3 boobed girl have a sister?

[Rich76_911s]

I'm all for it. I see these guys almost everyday:

[Seahawk]

My Father is a nuke...ran the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina for years and then was the nuke waste czar in DC for many more. He worked the Yucca Mountain issue, glassification of nuke waste, safe transport, NEST Teams, the works.

He was even present at the only core meltdown of a reactor in the US, in Idaho Falls when a rod was exposed (think Simpsons) on a developmental reactor in what was thought to be a suicide.

He even taught at the Navy Nuke school on Idaho Falls.

It is safe, the waste issue is almost a no brainer and there is no comparison to the damage a coal-fired plant does to the environment, both in garnering the fuel and production of electricity.

If the greens in France can stand over 70% of their electricity to be produced nuke...

[The Gaijin]

It is like the development program has been on hold since 1975. Like who is driving AMC Pacers anymore? Where is the technology today?

We get little real information. And with tax credits for 'green" industrial wind turbines and the coal lobby we may never know..

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by The Gaijin

It is like the development program has been on hold since 1975. Like who is driving AMC Pacers anymore? Where is the technology today?

We get little real information. And with tax credits for 'green" industrial wind turbines and the coal lobby we may never know..

You want the truth...you can't handle the....

Really too many advances to chronicle in this post, both in the production and waste efforts. PM me and I'll endeavor to help.

[artplumber]

Development in the US has been on hold ever since Three Mile. However, there has been plenty of development in the field elsewhere. It would take 10 years from filing before you'd have a reactor online someplace, so nucs won't take any load off in the near future. Then you have the crazies (eg/California - no surprise) where some politicians are suggesting that any companies dealing in nuclear power have to clean their sites (when they're done) so that the site has less than background radiation. Brilliant.

(Sibling spends 50% of working time testifying or gathering data in Sacramento, DC, other legislatures....)