Or why not?
When are we moving to nuclear power and where will we be putting it?
- Thread starter Baggsy
- Start date
Priller
Well-known member
Waste disposal is still in 'kick the can down the road' status, and the plants are hugely expensive to build.
Still, considering the 'climate emergency' status of emissions, the new micro generators being looked at for remote communities, and our increasing need for electricity, it does seem to be the lesser evil compared to combustion generation. At least in seismically stable regions...
Still, considering the 'climate emergency' status of emissions, the new micro generators being looked at for remote communities, and our increasing need for electricity, it does seem to be the lesser evil compared to combustion generation. At least in seismically stable regions...
I still have my fingers crossed for a fusion vs fission.
When you look at some of the fusion news coming out in bits and pieces recently it's hard not to think that we're on the edge of a major breakthrough in that regard.
When you look at some of the fusion news coming out in bits and pieces recently it's hard not to think that we're on the edge of a major breakthrough in that regard.
... and dumping tons and tons of ash and CO2 into the atmosphere isn't?
Priller
Well-known member
Hence why I said it nuclear seems to be the lesser evil in the next line down...
Still, when this came up last, I was surprised just how little progress there has been on radioactive waste disposal. I assumed they'd have found an abandoned mine in the desert somewhere that could take a bunch of waste to be capped with a million meters of concrete. But apparently the US is still struggling to find somewhere suitable that doesn't have groundwater and other potential leakage issues. Firing it into the sun is also not very energy efficient, apparently...
Priller
Well-known member
This gives a pretty good picture of the debate and approaches to waste management. Right now it seems mostly to involve storing waste above ground in containers at secured sites until somebody figures out what to do with it....
High-level radioactive waste management - Wikipedia
High-level radioactive waste management - Wikipedia
Ontario wants to bury their waste out by Grand Bend
Be surprised then
Plans For New Reactors Worldwide - World Nuclear Association
Nuclear power capacity worldwide is increasing steadily. Most reactors under construction are in the Asian region. Significant further capacity is being created by plant uprating.
www.world-nuclear.org
Priller
Well-known member
Yikes. $23,000,000,000 ain't chump change. It's such a politically charged issue, it's hard to get unbiased info. When I Googled it, the first bunch of pages were either from industry groups like the NWMO saying how clean and safe everything is, or from anti-nuclear groups warning of death and destruction. It took adding some search terms to filter out the agendas...
Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository - Wikipedia
If that project goes through the boom will be felt for years and good times will roll…until it’s done. Then back to normal again.
Many towns in BC near the smelters and gas lines are boom towns.
Project goes ahead, prices rise, salaries rise, gangs come in, drug use and prostitution and violence skyrocket, project is finished, everyone leaves.
Rinse and repeat.
If you’re a gambler…buy a house there and hope the town gets selected (if you support it).
I’m all for it. It needs to go somewhere. And burying it in rock (to me…an un knowledgeable person) it makes sense to be buried deep underground.
It is pretty stable there as long as it’s away from the water table and any seismic activity, rock is a natural barrier/shield. Canada is full of deep unused mines too.
The Fukushima problem, that is causing a lot of reluctance to move back to nuclear power, was a display of where not to build nuclear power plants.
Even if there is seismic activity you just need to account for it in the design. Lots of tunnels, underground and surface structures in seismic zones.
Hell I think in LA the current tunnels they’re building have to be built to survive a magnitude X earthquake.
the hesitancy is ‘nuclear bad’ which translates to property values going down, so people don’t want it…and I understand it. Looking at some buddies’ salaries at OPG I wish I tried harder to get in there. 170/year average.
The nuclear industry is always a hard sell with some. I remember when there was a plant in the UK at a place called Dounreay. That sounds too much like Doom Ray to a lot of people. There was an incident there too. The plant is decommissioned now and clean up is taking a bit.
Dounreay: 'World's deepest nuclear clean-up' to begin Dounreay: 'World's deepest nuclear clean-up' to begin
Dounreay: 'World's deepest nuclear clean-up' to begin Dounreay: 'World's deepest nuclear clean-up' to begin
POWERMAN
Well-known member
I thought we already had Nuclear Power?
Didnt we get the scary notification last year?
Didnt we get the scary notification last year?
Nuclear scare prompts thousands of orders for potassium iodide pills
More than 30,000 orders were placed online for potassium iodide pills after an emergency message was sent across Ontario warning residents about an incident at a Toronto-area nuclear power plant early Sunday morning.
www.ctvnews.ca
While a good idea in theory, in practice that locks you into an untenable situation where the govt that sets it up screws us for all eternity. Politicians are the evil (in the overwhelming majority of cases) but our system gives them almost infinite power and freedom from all responsibility.
