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If the vote had been pre-tsunami my vote would have been yes. Hopefully these recent events change everything.
Nuclear power plants would be great if built on the moon, and just think you could build lots of them and stretch a long wire down to earth. Maybe then it would be safe. Perhaps its good for the use of spaceships for travel. Its possibe that this has been going on for billions of years already. A well kept secret, Well, will we eventually blow ourselfs up with this power? Do we turn planets into stars. Again, Are stars made out of planets? Understanding the secretes of nuclear energy could be the genesis of the universe? And away we go ! In and out and in and out.
We already have the answers, but we're having too much fun scaring everybody with doomsday headlines to look at the REAL answers and solutions that are right in front of us:
http://thoriumenergy.org/ : Thorium is the most energy-dense substance on Earth, and enough exists to power civilization for millennia.
The Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor
The modern concept of the Liquid-Fluoride Thorium Reactor (LFTR) uses uranium and thorium dissolved in fluoride salts of lithium and beryllium. These salts are chemically stable, impervious to radiation damage, and non-corrosive to the vessels that contain them. Because of their ability to tolerate heavy radiation, excellent temperature properties, minimal fuel loading requirements (i.e., easy of continual refueling) and other inherent factors, LFTR cores can be made much smaller than a typical light water reactor (LWR). In fact, liquid salt reactors, and LFTRs specifically, are listed as an unfunded part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Generation-4 Nuclear Solution Plan.
Thorium is a superior nuclear fuel and has several important advantages over uranium:
Thorium powered nuclear reactors are more efficient and produce less than 1% of the waste of today's uranium nuclear reactors.
Thorium reactors are safer, less expensive, smaller and can be configured to eliminate the possibility of melt downs or accidents.
Thorium does not produce plutonium and thus, could effectively eliminate further weapons production in volatile regions and reduce proliferation on a global scale, thus ending stalemate arguments over dubious nuclear programs such as exist in Iran and North Korea.
Proprietary thorium technology, capable of safely and efficiently dismantling nuclear stockpiles and eliminating spent uranium, now exists.
Senator's Orin Hatch and Harry Reid - To amend the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 in order to provide for thorium fuel cycle nuclear power development as a prelude to electrical generation. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-3680
Congressman Joe Sestak - To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to carry out a study on the use of thorium - liquid fueled nuclear reactors for naval power needs, and other purposes. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-1534
http://thoriumenergy.com/
http://wiki.twit.tv/wiki/Dr._Kiki%27s_Science_Hour_84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEpnpyd-jbw
Thom,
I'm really surprised to hear you take this approach on nuclear power. Do away with all of the nuclear power plants, and what are we left with? Billions more tons of carbon in the atmosphere. Alternative energy isn't there yet. It cannot supply all of our energy needs. Even in Europe, where there is a solar panel on every roof, solar power only accounts for a small percentage of their total energy production. Nuclear fills the gap. Nuclear is the lesser of evils. There are over 100 million rooftops in the United States. To put 30 solar panels on every one, enough to provide most of the energy demand of an average home, you would require over 3 billion solar panels. Do you have any idea how much embodied energy and raw materials that would be? And that still would not provided enough energy for the majority of the demand, because the average commercial building consumes far more than the average home. Until nanotechnology revolutionizes solar PV production, and until we have nuclear fusion up and running, we are left with nuclear or coal for the majority of our energy demand. How many people have ever been killed by nuclear power, including those killed by the Bomb? Now, how many more people are killed every year by carbon from coal plants? You are talking about a once in a generation catastrophe with nuclear, while we are experiencing a slow-motion global catastrophe with coal every day. Come on, Thom, you wrote a book about this. Nuclear is the lesser of evils, and it is a temporary evil. In 10 - 15 years, nanotechnology will make solar power ubiquitous. In 20 - 30 years, fusion power will be providing clean and abundant energy across the globe. We just need nuclear power for a little while longer to keep us from building more coal plants. Of course, we should also be pushing alternative energies so that we can reduce the evils further, but in the mean time, we have to resolve ourselves to using nuclear.
Than
You could drill deep into a subduction fault zone, fill it with spent fuel and plug it with cement. Repeat until n-waste is gone. Problem solved. Also, put the diesel powered generators above the flood line next time. Also design for 9.5 earthquake. Or not, if you want keep the fish and environment healthy. Or not, if you don't want to go to war over the last of the uranium ore. Hmmm..let's think of something else.
But anyway, we COULD get rid of the n-waste whatever else happens.
thom, love your show. 1 suggestion...when you talk about the uber-rich, refer to them as wanna-be kings and queens.
i think most people think that the desire to be king/queen went out in medieval times. nothing is further from the truth.
i think the corporate agenda is designed to get rid of that pain in the ass document, the Constitution, so bad for busines/exploitation.
the same document that requires corps to be good civic citizens, to not conduct business if it harms citizens/people, no unreasonable searches, no monopolies(Sherman Anti-Trust) etc etc.
without that document, this country is wide open to feudalism, serfs and landowners, kings and queens
Once Gov. Snyder installs his petit dictators, I want to see a class action lawsuit of town council members against him for termination without cause.
That's "Achilles' heel".
"Our lives depend on the system that is exploiting us." - Derrick Jensen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rmb_5183ZU&feature=related
Preparing for the fall of civilization - Derrick Jensen
"Our lives depend on the system that is exploiting us."
Derrick Jensen on Identification in our society.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSa9tyuIdkI&feature=related
You really need to have Derrick Jensen on!!!! Please!
Hi everyone!! I'd called in yesterday, but after being on hold for over 2 hours, I was running late for dialysis & Had to hang up. Anyways, I'm REALLY hoping that someone can educate me on a topic, or at least steer me in the right position to begin learning about it myself. Whilst on hold yesterday, another gentleman actually called in with the same subject on his mind-I'm speaking about geothermal energy-and WHY aren't we pursuing it, well, at ALL that I've heard of.
While I do have a science degree, it is in the biological sciences and not geology-nor was I a stellar physics student for some reason; so please excuse my ignorance-it just seems like it would be a MUCH simpler and less dangerous method of using Mother Natures own, abundant and seemingly readily available, method of extracting the heat needed to "boil water".
Also-Thom and a caller were talking about the workers at the Fukushima Nuclear plant in Japan and the reports that they left the facility for a time because of increased radiation levels. According to their families and other workers from the plant-they never left!! They actually WERE holed up in the on site "safe room" for a number of hours. Japan's public news station, NHK, ("NHK-World" in English; link follows), had interviews with them and there were also the same reports in the Japan Times-(link also below). Because my Son travels often between Japan and Guam these days, we have been following this whole situation rather closely, and I created a Twitter Feed where you can usually find more accurate information than the US media is giving.
Here are the links-
Live Video feed 24/7 http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-world-tv Japan Times: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/ and my Japan Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/SoloPocono/japan
Thank you in advance for any info on Geothermal Energy and WHY we never hear anything about it!!
elaine
Scott Walker got thrown out of Marquette University in MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin not Marquette, MI
Mike
Marquette University is in Wisconsin, not Michigan.
Re: Should we tax millionaires and billionaires? Thomas Jefferson warned us about allowing one generation's earned wealth to be inherited by subsequent generations. He believed that this practice would lead to these wealthy folks becoming a quasi-aristocracy. Guess what? That's been happening for the last 30 years and now they're arranging the finishing touches. What Jefferson recommended was a 100% death tax, with no inheritance allowed at all. He thought the money should be devoted to building a complete educational system that would be available to anyone who merited it by excellence in their studies. A Meritocracy, rather than an Aristocracy.
This sounds to me like a perfect solution to what's occurring today. The ultra-rich need a serious spanking for their deplorable behavior that shifted all income to them, while the rest of us are their slaves. Let's take their power by taking their money. Then they will finally be paying their fair share and we can drop this ridiculous "spending problem" nonsense and start to address the real problem: an inadequate revenue problem. It's time the ones with the highest incomes pay their fair share.
As an alternative, we could just take them all out and hang them. A proper reward for their treason.
Thom,
I believe that Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) has said he may hold a hearing on US nuclear safety. I am about to call his office to find out the status on this. Also, Joe Lieberman has used his one sensible brain cell to suggest we should review our own nuclear preparedness in case of a crisis like Japan's.
Thom, you talked about the need for water in nuclear plants... the most egregious example I know of with regard to stupid planning is the Limerick plant in PA. next to a river (Schuylkill) unable to cool it. After the plant was built, the owners created a pipeline 35 miles long to bring water to it. And the containment buildings are easily visible and accessible from public roads. And the plant is in a densely populated area. And it is #3 in earthquake risk in the US.
10% of the unuseable land in the desert SW, dedicated to solar power and backed up by natural gas, would supply more than enough energy for the entire country- including an electric vehicle fleet- well into the next century. The studies have been around for years now. Those studies were based on systems that were less efficient than we have today. For less money than we pissed away in Iraq we could be running on a 100% renewable energy system, and that price includes a rebuilt distribution system.
Nuclear energy is a dangerous gamble, and a lousy investment. Without government backing, no nuke plant could ever get funding. What do bankers understand that most of us dont?
Think I'm blowing smoke about renewable energy? Try some light reading:
Zweibel, J., Mason, J., Fthenakis, V. ( 2008, January)
A Solar Grand Plan. Scientific American, 64-73
or
Jacobson, M. C., & Delucchi, M. A. (2009, November)
A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030. Scientific American, 58-65
the soka gakkai international global family sending prayers of Nam Myho Renge Kyo to the ppl of Japan and the Soka Gakkai members working in relief efforts to help their fellow citizens
But Thom -- The Uber-Wealthy don't care what remains of America; they are evacuating to Dubai and building custom-made islands, where they can import girls of any race, to match any taste, and no one will ever know.
America is a sub-station, a resource field to be mined at the greatest short-term profit, at the least cost; drained and left.
the ticking time bomb of nuclear energy. 6 to 10 years to wait for spent fuel to cool down. then to store the cooled down spent fuel. this is a cycle for disaster. we are making causes that will lead to negative effects with our relationship with the enviroment. when those that talk about the deficit being handed down to our grandchildren, i say look at what we are handing down to them by using nuclear energy.
Every Human on Earth, now and in the future, is compromised by the insane hubris of nuclear “energy”. How dare the leaders of the world allow their citizens to be exposed to this kind of risk, while the power barons divide up the spoils of nuclear, oil, coal, and fracking? When will our world leaders work together to come up with a non-profit system of localized and non-toxic energy that any citizen of the world may access safely? How dare we expect brave workers to die for their jobs and our TV set plugs? We need, as citizens, to be willing to take on austerity measures, and change our ways of living to more creatively green systems, no matter how challenging at first; and we must expect our leaders to stop listening to the ones who are in it for the money, and who are handing out checks to anyone who will listen to them -- instead of to the people.
Every poll I see on this subject is the same, even when the numbers dont add up to 100, over 70% supposedly want nukes. This proves how easily people can be brainwashed, given the only ones who profit from nuclear energy are the contractors who build the plants. A nuke plant takes 20 years to break even under the best of conditions, and costs 10x as much as a coal fired plant.
A solar thermal plant will break even in less than 4 years, and is the cheapest type of plant to build in terms of $$/ watt.
safe, clean, too cheap to meter.......drill baby drill
Double Amen
Amen
A CEO, a union member, and a teabagger are sitting at a table with a dozen cookies. The CEO takes 11 cookies for himself. The CEO then turns to the teabagger and says,”Watch out for that union guy, he wants part of your cookie.”