Nuclear power plants failing all around.

[Arrian]

I take it that the people in New Mexico who fought Yucca Mountain are dirty hippies, then?

Nuclear power is great, except for the waste. The waste has to be stored (for a very, very long time) carefully. If we were to ramp up nuclear power (say, by building 50 new plants), we would also be ramping up the waste stream significantly. That means you don't need Yucca Mountain - you need a whole lot more. And you have to be confident in the waste storage plan, going forward for however long the stuff remains seriously radioactive.

Confident in that, are you?

-Arrian

[Dauphin]

Simple. Blast the nuclear waste into space. What could go wrong?

[DaShi]

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I take it that the people in New Mexico who fought Yucca Mountain are dirty hippies, then?

Shoes or in this case sandals fit.

Confident in that, are you?

-Arrian

Pretty much so.

[Elok]

Well, which is a more gigantic engineering challenge: finding a way to process or safely store nuclear waste, or finding a way to make solar/wind energy farms practical?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Well, which is a more gigantic engineering challenge: finding a way to process or safely store nuclear waste, or finding a way to make solar/wind energy farms practical?

Or one could simply do what the rest of the world is doing and reverse Carter's executive order prohibitting the recycling of spent fuel into usable fuel.

Thus reducing waste generation by an order of magnitude.

'Course that might just cause a whole new cottage industry of employment that needs to be avoided at all costs.

[Hauldren Collider]

I take it that the people in New Mexico who fought Yucca Mountain are dirty hippies, then?

You mean Nevada?

Nuclear power is great, except for the waste. The waste has to be stored (for a very, very long time) carefully. If we were to ramp up nuclear power (say, by building 50 new plants), we would also be ramping up the waste stream significantly. That means you don't need Yucca Mountain - you need a whole lot more. And you have to be confident in the waste storage plan, going forward for however long the stuff remains seriously radioactive.

Confident in that, are you?

-Arrian

Do you know how little space the waste takes up and how much space is available in Nowhere, Nevada, totally devoid of people or life anyone gives a **** about?

Do you realize how long nuclear fuel lasts? They don't produce that much waste! In contrast, Yucca mountain is huge!

[Elok]

And when you consider the number of people who croak or get ill from "accidents" mining or processing coal...

[Cort Haus]

Nookilar Power

[MikeH]

You mean Nevada?



Do you know how little space the waste takes up and how much space is available in Nowhere, Nevada, totally devoid of people or life anyone gives a **** about?

Do you realize how long nuclear fuel lasts? They don't produce that much waste! In contrast, Yucca mountain is huge!

It's not just the waste, the reactors only have a certain shelf life and when you decommission them you have a much bigger volume of contaminated bits of reactor and building that you need to store safely.

[N35t0r]

Just build the new reactors on top of the old ones

[MikeH]

And render the new ones immediately unsafe!

[N35t0r]

Why? Just fill them up solid with concrete, and build on top