Energy FAQ

Question:

>"local" tragedies with only a few deaths. >I can guarantee you that similar occurances have not been happening >with nuclear power.

It seems to me that the accidents you wrote about were caused by someone at the scene. The explosions were a direct consequence of their actions. In the case of atomic waste. The explosion will come when future generations are faced with the consequences of our actions. I realize that innocent people get caught up in the explosions, I narrowly avoided just such an event,(a direct consequence of my actions. I saw the fuel delivery man light his ciggarette while he was pumping fuel, and I sped away from the service station, and witnessed the blast one minute later.)I also think that innocent, and only innocent people will suffer when the nuclear waste "explosions" surface in the future. Far reaching effects have far reaching side effects. E.Lyons Buda, Texas

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>It seems to me that the accidents you wrote about were caused by someone >at the scene. The explosions were a direct consequence of their actions. >In the case of atomic waste. The explosion will come when future >generations are faced with the consequences of our actions. I realize >that innocent people get caught up in the explosions, I narrowly avoided >just such an event,(a direct consequence of my actions. I saw the fuel >delivery man light his ciggarette while he was pumping fuel, and I sped >away from the service station, and witnessed the blast one minute >later.)I also think that innocent, and only innocent people will suffer >when the nuclear waste "explosions" surface in the future. Far reaching >effects have far reaching side effects. >E.Lyons Buda, Texas

        And what is the mechanism that the waste will blow up by?         P.S.  It seems you had one minute to warn the people at the         service station.  Did you? —

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In article   writes: >yons [...] >"local" tragedies with only a few deaths. >I can guarantee you that similar occurances have not been happening >with nuclear power. [...] >I also think that innocent, and only innocent people will suffer >when the nuclear waste "explosions" surface in the future. Far reaching >effects have far reaching side effects. >E.Lyons Buda, Texas

Nuclear waste doesn’t explode, and is not stored on the surface. The only way you’ll get to it, is if you dig for trouble. I think the odds of future generations digging through enough rock to find a trivial amount of cubic volume, marked with every danger sign imaginable, is pretty remote.  Especially if we were smart, and disposed of it in Antartica. Nuclear waste decay lifetimes are nothing compared to geologic time, and the actual volume of waste is small. Not so with chemical waste, which is hard to identify, detect and is in extremely large volumes. Opinions are My Own

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>It seems to me that the accidents you wrote about were caused by someone >at the scene. The explosions were a direct consequence of their actions. >In the case of atomic waste. The explosion will come when future >generations are faced with the consequences of our actions.

So tell me something. If you reprocess spent nuclear fuel to recycle the actinides (they are still nuclear fuel and a sin to throw away), what’s left is a set of radioactives with half-lives either less than 30 years or more than 10 billion (1e10) years.  The latter are less radioactive than the original uranium and the former are effectively gone in a millenium (33 half-lives implies less than 1 part in 8e9 of the original material remains). Don’t bother telling me that we can’t build something to isolate this material for long enough.  1000 years is more than enough. The pyramids have been standing for four times that long. If we use nuclear power, what we will give to our children is a world with less dependence on fossil fuels and less greenhouse warming.  They’ll be even less at the mercy of weather than they are with fossil fuels (whose supply can be interrupted by floods and other disruptions to shipping). So what problems would we be leaving to future generations again? —

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>It seems to me that the accidents you wrote about were caused by someone >at the scene. The explosions were a direct consequence of their actions. >In the case of atomic waste. The explosion will come when future

like to hear about how waste is going to explode. minor radiolytic decomp of air isn’t going to do it. the production of H2 is not that hard to control, but is a possiblity. >generations are faced with the consequences of our actions. I realize >that innocent people get caught up in the explosions, I narrowly avoided >just such an event,(a direct consequence of my actions. I saw the fuel >delivery man light his ciggarette while he was pumping fuel, and I sped >away from the service station, and witnessed the blast one minute >later.)I also think that innocent, and only innocent people will suffer >when the nuclear waste "explosions" surface in the future. Far reaching >effects have far reaching side effects. >E.Lyons Buda, Texas

What do you think is the cause of these explosions will be.  Are you as worried about people wearing seat belts. Or cigarette smoking?  Or speed limits, or poverty. These things are not mythical hazards, but things that can kill or safe lives today. Want some cause that you can save lives, pick up one of these. or drunk driving, or join the PTA, or run for public office, adopt a child, donate organs and blood. -Bruce

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>Nuclear waste doesn’t explode, and is not stored on the surface. The >only way you’ll get to it, is if you dig for trouble. I think the >odds of future generations digging through enough rock to find >a trivial amount of cubic volume, marked with every danger sign imaginable, >is pretty remote.  [...]

In Canada the waste will be buried a kilometre or more deep in hard igneous rock, and the technology for mining into such rock is highly complex.  Any civilization capable of hard-rock mining will surely be intelligent enough to recognize nuclear waste.  –                    "My thoughts are mine"

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/* It seems to me that the accidents you wrote about were caused by someone at the scene. */ No Eric.  There was no one to blame for the gas pipeline explosion in Korea.  The gas leaked because of a faulty pipe and exploded, probably after it was ignited with a spark.  Please tell me how you totally prevent sparks on a busy city street. Rod Adams

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Eric, Just what is the major source of income in Buda Texas? Rod Adams

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>>Nuclear waste doesn’t explode, and is not stored on the surface. The >only way you’ll get to it, is if you dig for trouble. I think the >odds of future generations digging through enough rock to find >a trivial amount of cubic volume, marked with every danger sign imaginable, >is pretty remote.  [...] >In Canada the waste will be buried a kilometre or more deep in hard >igneous rock, and the technology for mining into such rock is highly >complex.  Any civilization capable of hard-rock mining will surely be >intelligent enough to recognize nuclear waste.

Maybe they’ll find a new source of "geothermal" energy  Too bad that any useful energy will have decayed away by that time… > — >                   "My thoughts are mine"

Mike Jamison "Scientific research consists in seeing what everyone else has seen, but thinking what no one else has thought"                                                 -A. Szent-Gyorgyi

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