DOESN’T THIS BOTHER YOU?

8 comments

Posted on 6th October 2012 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

8 Comments

  1. sunshine guerilla says:

    noooo didn’t work here but if your interested, a 15min video montage on boiling water reactors (i.e. fukushima ) and cesium 136 radiation causing heart defects and why.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaE2CdxSKGg

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1

    6th October 2012 at 8:51 am

  2. SSS says:

    sunshine guerilla

    You might be the 100th person here on TBP to pitch the glories of thorium nuclear reactors over the “evils” of uranium nuclear reactors.

    You gotta ask yourself a question. If that super-abundant thorium is so much cheaper and safer than uranium, as claimed by its adherents, then why hasn’t someone started building those thorium power plants by the dozens or hundreds???? Answer: because the claims just ain’t so.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 1

    6th October 2012 at 5:20 pm

  3. TeresaE says:

    I caught this episode last night, would have laughed harder if it didn’t ring so true.

    James Cameron going to the ocean depths trying to find – and raise – “the bar” was simply genius.

    Too bad life wasn’t that simple.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    6th October 2012 at 7:12 pm

  4. Novista says:

    SSS

    Perhaps the “evil” is due to (a) flogging reactors like a rented mule well past their use-by date and (b) ignoring ongoing maintenance, retrofits and recommendations for a very long time.

    http://euobserver.com/justice/117755

    Caveat: anytime I see the word Greenpeace, I reach for the salt shaker.

    Japan’s got the right dea, though, for them: shut down all the reactors, makes it easier to revert to the bushido feudal culture they admire. I’m not so sure the Eurozone will enjoy the medieval lifestyle.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0

    6th October 2012 at 7:20 pm

  5. SSS says:

    Novista

    I read the link you provided. While I can appreciate the concern of aging nuclear power plants around the globe, my focus remains on my country.

    The two worst, and deadliest, nuclear disasters occurred in the Soviet Union (Belarus) and Japan. Not a damn thing we could have done about either of them. Nor can we do anything about cracks in a reactor shield in Belgium or threat of earthquakes somewhere in Europe. Their problem.

    Fukushima triggered a nuclear safety review here in the U.S. and everywhere else. Great. If an aging first-generation nuclear power plant reveals a high-risk to continuance of operation, then shut it down. But first, you have to have a plan to REPLACE that power BEFORE it is taken off line.

    There are some great third-generation plus nuclear plant options available right now, as I type this. To me, that’s the way to go. What you can’t do, without committing national suicide, is take nuclear off the grid, as Germany and Japan are discussing, without providing an acceptable baseload alternative source of power. Baseload = 24/7, 365.

    Right now, baseload choices are hydro (tapped out almost globally), nuclear, and fossil fuels. With hydro nearly out of the picture and a rapidly diminishing source of fossil fuels, except for evil coal, where does that leave us for sources of “clean” baseload energy? Uh, nuclear is my guess.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    6th October 2012 at 8:40 pm

  6. Eddie says:

    SSS

    There was a working thorium/molten salt reactor built at Oak Ridge. The reason we never built thorium reactors on any kind of scale was that It got shelved…because every politician in Washington had a hard-on to build the fast breeder reactor. Plutonium for bombs to nuke the Russkies was deemed far more important than cheap safe power.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 1

    6th October 2012 at 8:59 pm

  7. SSS says:

    “every politician in Washington had a hard-on to build the fast breeder reactor. Plutonium for bombs to nuke the Russkies was deemed far more important than cheap safe power.”
    —-Eddie

    Nice 1960s thinking. Last time I looked, the Cold War ended a generation ago. A fucking generation ago. Since then, our nuclear arsenal has taken a nose-dive to what, 2,200 warheads soon to be 1,500 warheads, maybe less?

    So the demand for weapons grade nuclear material has fallen off a cliff, and you’re trying to tell me that this “magic bullet” thorium energy hasn’t crossed anyone’s mind as a safe and cheap alternative to that nasty uranium alternative. Get fucking real, Eddie.

    And so what if there was a working thorium/molten salt reactor at Oak Ridge? Explain WHY it got shelved, as you state. Let me give you a homework assignment as to WHY. Explore the “molten salt” side of the equation and come back and tell us how much that will cost. Good luck and God speed, Eddie.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    6th October 2012 at 11:06 pm

  8. Eddie says:

    Oh, thorium/molten salt reactors will be built. The question is whether Americans will build any.

    I’ve read a good bit about the shelving of the Oak Ridge thorium reactor, and my take is that it was primarily a political decision. The guy who built it was shafted by his politically motivated rivals and ended up quitting in disgust.

    There are lots of good alternative energy options that are being ignored, right now. Meanwhile we waste money on stupid shit like ethanol, which costs more energy to make than it yields.

    Don’t wish me luck. I make my own luck by prepping. I will be okay.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0

    6th October 2012 at 12:55 am

Leave a comment

You can add images to your comment by clicking here.