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Would You Tolerate Nuclear Power For Energy Independence?

Are You Interested In More Nuclear Power?


  • Total voters
    101
Exactly. Why make an impossible assault on an American nuclear plant when they probably won't even have to "buy" it from Iran?
with the terrorist discount, and free shipping, any terrorist can have their own little dirty bomb....
We missed a good chance to sell small tactical nuclear weapons to both sides during the Iran/Iraq war. we could have sold nuclear hand grenades to both countries....
 
with the terrorist discount, and free shipping, any terrorist can have their own little dirty bomb....
We missed a good chance to sell small tactical nuclear weapons to both sides during the Iran/Iraq war. we could have sold nuclear hand grenades to both countries....

:cool: That would have simplified the middle-east equation, wouldn't it. I like the idea of giving an idiot enough rope to hang himself with.
 
Tolerate it?! I'm a strong supporter of it!

I live about 20 miles away from a nuclear power plant, we have never had a scare in my lifetime. The closest thing that could be regarded as a "scare" was when a car load of 'Arab' looking men were scouting out the area near one of the fences about a year or so after 9-11. They were driven off by security and that's the last anyone ever heard of the incident.
 
And that's why I would like to see Thorium nuclear plants (one of many reasons). It's not easy to misuse for weapons.

Last I checked, the only way to use Thorium for nuclear weapons is to run in through a special type of breeder reactor to produce plutonium. Basically, only India is doing this as it never signed the NPT and needs a way to generate large amounts of fissile material for weapons. For everyone else, it's just easier to buy or mine uranium. Converting over to thorium with a strict construction code effectively eliminates the production of fissile material for weapons.
 
Because people start to panic at the mere mention of nuclear without even thoroughly understanding the facts. People look at the Fukushima disaster which involved extraordinary circumstances that NOBODY ever imagined possible.

Granted though, TEPCO kind of screwed up its safety and the Japanese government wasn't a very good regulator when it came to TEPCO.
 
If asked, "Would you like an almost completely clean source of efficient renewable energy instead of your coal plants to avert the destruction of the environment?" I cannot see any sense in me replying with a "no".
 
for a terrorist organization to get hold of a spent fuel rod, they would have to attack the facility to get IN while dragging a dry cask behind them. Then they have to load the spent fuel into the dry cask without exposing themselves to the incredible amount of radiation that is currently being shielded by 20 feet of water, or more. Think almost instant death if they don't do it right. Then they would have to fight their way OUT against the helicopter gunships that will have arrived while they were busing loading the spent fuel into the dry cask. And it takes a heavy duty tractor trailer rig to haul away the cask, which would have a dozen or so flat tires by now.
Terrorist, at best, might be able to pump the water OUT of the spent fuel pool causing damage to the fuel, but it is a lot of water, and it would take a lot of time. The pumps they have on site are not likely designed to rapidly empty any tank, much less a spent fuel pool.
Long story short, not gonna happen...especially when in only a few more years, they can just buy spent fuel from Iran...

That's not what I'm talking about.

The issue is potential bombing of on-site storage facilities. Just imagine the release of nuclear wastes in to the environment - the surrounding environment could become inhabitable, there increased risk of cancers and various diseases, not to mention groundwater contamination.
 
That's not what I'm talking about.

The issue is potential bombing of on-site storage facilities. Just imagine the release of nuclear wastes in to the environment - the surrounding environment could become inhabitable, there increased risk of cancers and various diseases, not to mention groundwater contamination.
It would take a lot of effort, and there are far easier targets. These buildings are guarded, and the water tank is thick walled concrete.

Why would a terrorist stop at just making a few acres uninhabitable when he can kill thousands by poisoning our water or spreading some nasty disease....
 
It would take a lot of effort, and there are far easier targets. These buildings are guarded, and the water tank is thick walled concrete.[/ vQUOTE]

Safe enough, hunh. Well, when it comes to the aforementioned risks, that's not good enough for me.

Human error happens and, if a terrorist manages to attack one of these on site storage facilities, the results would be devastating. Further, just a thick walled concrete tank won't stop folks with the kind of resources major terrorist organizations have.

Why would a terrorist stop at just making a few acres uninhabitable when he can kill thousands by poisoning our water or spreading some nasty disease....

Contaminating ground water isn't poisoning water? Cancer's just "some nasty disease"? News to me. :shock:
 
It would take a lot of effort, and there are far easier targets. These buildings are guarded, and the water tank is thick walled concrete.[/ vQUOTE]

Safe enough, hunh. Well, when it comes to the aforementioned risks, that's not good enough for me.

Human error happens and, if a terrorist manages to attack one of these on site storage facilities, the results would be devastating. Further, just a thick walled concrete tank won't stop folks with the kind of resources major terrorist organizations have.



Contaminating ground water isn't poisoning water? Cancer's just "some nasty disease"? News to me. :shock:

To contaminate ground water, you need access to it. It would take a train load of explosives to blow a hole in the ground that deep. An explosion in a spent fuel pool will throw the water UPWARD. I have been in a spent fuel pool building....altho it is not like the dome containment, it is still quite secure. Of course, if you have access to a 747, you can penetrate that building, but you would be hard pressed to damage the spent fuel pool walls enough to make it drain, or even leak...

Your profile is conveniently blank, are you hiding something? like no basis in education, training, or experience to justify your stance?
Anonymous posters are all too often openly ignorant of the technology that we have used to make our nukes safe.
 
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Granted though, TEPCO kind of screwed up its safety and the Japanese government wasn't a very good regulator when it came to TEPCO.

Well, there you go. Follow the safety guidelines and nuclear is very safe. It takes a long chain of circumstances to cause the trouble that people worry so much (too much) about. It's far less safe to cross a busy street than live near a nuclear plant.
 
It would take a lot of effort, and there are far easier targets. These buildings are guarded, and the water tank is thick walled concrete.[/ vQUOTE]

Safe enough, hunh. Well, when it comes to the aforementioned risks, that's not good enough for me.

Human error happens and, if a terrorist manages to attack one of these on site storage facilities, the results would be devastating. Further, just a thick walled concrete tank won't stop folks with the kind of resources major terrorist organizations have.



Contaminating ground water isn't poisoning water? Cancer's just "some nasty disease"? News to me. :shock:

That's where you and I disagree. You live in some fanciful world where there's no chance of a terrorist destroying a storage cask, and the building they're stored in(if this is the case, which it often isn't). I however, live in a reality where a chance of one of these casks leaking is conceivable.

You simply seeing an on site storage facility doesn't count as a replacement for common sense.

And as for my profile? This is an anonymous, lighthearted debate site and I'm perfectly content with it staying that way. Disagreements on this board are not meant to be taken seriously and if you want to make it some kind of pillar of internet accountability, you'll do it alone.
 
If the terrorists haven't attacked nuclear facilities now, then why would they after we build a few more? It's extraordinarily impractical to attack a nuclear power plant, when there are cheaper/easier, and more deadly ways to wage terrorist activities.
 
That's where you and I disagree. You live in some fanciful world where there's no chance of a terrorist destroying a storage cask, and the building they're stored in(if this is the case, which it often isn't). I however, live in a reality where a chance of one of these casks leaking is conceivable.

You simply seeing an on site storage facility doesn't count as a replacement for common sense.

And as for my profile? This is an anonymous, lighthearted debate site and I'm perfectly content with it staying that way. Disagreements on this board are not meant to be taken seriously and if you want to make it some kind of pillar of internet accountability, you'll do it alone.

there are videos of people purposely trying to destroy a dry cask.....
Google is your friend.....
here is one Cask Test - 1978 - YouTube
 
Meanwhile in Japan....


563126-japan-inside-the-zone.jpg
 
That's where you and I disagree. You live in some fanciful world where there's no chance of a terrorist destroying a storage cask, and the building they're stored in(if this is the case, which it often isn't). I however, live in a reality where a chance of one of these casks leaking is conceivable.

You simply seeing an on site storage facility doesn't count as a replacement for common sense.

And as for my profile? This is an anonymous, lighthearted debate site and I'm perfectly content with it staying that way. Disagreements on this board are not meant to be taken seriously and if you want to make it some kind of pillar of internet accountability, you'll do it alone.
If we listen only to the opinions of those having little knowledge on any given topic, we would still be an agrarian society...
 
I support the Keystone pipeline, getting more natural gas and drilling more of our oil as well as more nuclear power. I think we should go for the most cost effective method that results in energy independence (or at least has us getting more energy from Canada and virtually none from the Middle East).
 
I support the Keystone pipeline, getting more natural gas and drilling more of our oil as well as more nuclear power. I think we should go for the most cost effective method that results in energy independence (or at least has us getting more energy from Canada and virtually none from the Middle East).
apparently the Saudi govt sees the handwriting on the wall and are getting into electricity in a big way...solar and nuclear....google saudi nuclear

lots of good stuff to read...
 
No justification for nukes. They have to be done with gov't money. They are not insurable, and that is because the potential liability is huge. We don't need the energy. There is plenty of wind and sun. So why build nukes anyway? Read carefully. They plug in to the existing centralized distribution of electricity network and tax collection network. Guess what. Wind and solar are only truly efficient when placed locally. Who gets cut out of the loop? That would be the centralized distribution of electricity network (monopoly) and the tax collection network (state and federal gov'ts). Who'd a thunk it that the Utilities and gov't are partners in the business. That's why nukes. That's why TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima, 9 nuclear subs, and who knows how many unreported events? Not needed at any price. Not safe at any price. Always on a major freshwater source. That's a huge threat. What do bankrupt nuke corporations do with big waste problems. Look at Fukushima and TEPCO has been Nationalized and that is another way of saying that the taxpayer will now be responsible for the nuke waste at Fukushima. This is standard business practice or modus operandi as some might say. How old is your nuclear reactor?
 
We humans cracked the atom sometime in the early 1940's; built the first nuclear power plant anywhere on the planet in 1954 in the USSR. The US currently has 104 nuclear power plants.

Nuclear Energy Institute - U.S. Nuclear Power Plants

I can't believe I'm asking this, but I am. I'd rather have another one in my county than to have fraking for natural gas going on, or coal mining, or that benighted Keystone Pipeline.

What say you? Could we achieve energy independence via building more nuclear power plants, and if so, would you be willing to do so?
The Big Potential of Micro Nukes | Alternative Energy | DISCOVER Magazine

Unfortunately, the terrorist threat keeps us from any real energy solution. Micro nukes can be converted into bombs. Simply withdrawing our demand for oil will further destabilize the ME. We have to advance to a higher level of social evolution before the problem of energy can be solved. We have the knowledge and tech to move to energy independence, but he wave the wisdom not to do it at the stage of evolution. Myth and legend are filled with great empires who fell by their own hands because they reached for power before they were ready.
 
I support the Keystone pipeline, getting more natural gas and drilling more of our oil as well as more nuclear power. I think we should go for the most cost effective method that results in energy independence (or at least has us getting more energy from Canada and virtually none from the Middle East).

You know the oil from that pipeline isn't even intended for us? The plan is to use the refineries in the gulf and then export the resultant gasoline. But yeah, energy independence is really important. For me, I'd prefer no oil from the middle-east as soon as possible. Ultimately, no oil from Canada and Mexico either. They aren't so unstable so eliminating the need for their oil isn't as much of a rush job. When all the oil we need is produced right here in the US, we'll be in very good shape.
 
You know the oil from that pipeline isn't even intended for us? The plan is to use the refineries in the gulf and then export the resultant gasoline. But yeah, energy independence is really important. For me, I'd prefer no oil from the middle-east as soon as possible. Ultimately, no oil from Canada and Mexico either. They aren't so unstable so eliminating the need for their oil isn't as much of a rush job. When all the oil we need is produced right here in the US, we'll be in very good shape.


I really don't mind the Canadians and Mexicans sending oil here to refine. After all gasoline, Vaseline, kerosine, etc are worth more than some crude.
 
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