(June 4, 2012 at 3:15 am)Moros Synackaon Wrote: And the industry won't invest in Gen 4.
So we're stuck with aging Gen 3 and Gen 2 infrastructure that is incredibly expensive to maintain and remove. That produces highly toxic waste.
What? You mean the free market ISN'T finding a way? Color me unsurprised.
Sounds to me like the industry needs to invest in 4Gen. Seems like a pretty basic solution. How do we go about fixing that? By completely dropping all demand for nuclear power? HOLY SHIT HOW COME I DIDN'T THINK OF THAT- oh right, it's because I'm not a fucking waterhead...
The MSR guys at Xerox Parc mentioned that the reactor could use thorium or spent fuel. From our older reactors. Which would be better than letting it mound up in storage tanks along the Great Lakes.
[/quote]
Quote:PWRs currently used wouldn't pay for their damned selves if the US government stopped subsidizing them.
In other words they're currently paying for themselves via subsidies... How am I full of crap, again? Or are you just trying to impress me? Get the crayons out, I wanna be colored something else...
Oh, wait, I forgot about this little article:
http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/04/29/...wanted=all
Quote:The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's main trade organization, ranks current nuclear plants as the cheapest source of U.S. electricity, with operating, maintenance and fuel costs of just over 2 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2009, compared to 5 cents for electricity from natural gas-fired plants and 3 cents for coal generation. Exelon said its generating plants returned average margins of 3.76 cents per kilowatt-hour last year, despite lower power prices, and two-thirds of Exelon's overall generation capacity comes from nuclear plants.
"These [nuclear] plants, which are fully depreciated, were purchased at a discount and are, in fact, cash cows," said industry critic Mark Cooper, a senior fellow at Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment.
Yeah, OK, Moros, I'M the one full of crap, hahahahaha!
But yes, the toxic waste bit is still not a very pleasant result. As far as the storage issue goes: Then it's not just Nevadans who are idiots. Big shock, this nation is full of idiots. Considering this nation is full of born-again evangelicals who send their gay/bi children to "Faith Healing" camps, I never expected otherwise but I WOULD hope that people pull their heads out of their buttpuckers on the subject. If indeed these storage facilities were not as airtight, figuratively speaking, as I have read that they were designed to be then rather than axing the project they should've figured out ways to make them so.
Quote:The MSR guys at Xerox Parc mentioned that the reactor could use thorium or spent fuel. From our older reactors. Which would be better than letting it mound up in storage tanks along the Great Lakes.
Ok we seem to be arguing about how to agree: If it solves the waste problem then WHY AREN'T WE FUCKING USING IT.
