US licenses first nuclear reactors since 1978

[timnormandin]

@timnormandin
In Superman 3 I think they sent it into space to kill an asteroid. I think the plan is similar to that.

Now, we're talking.

[up an down]

Have you ?

let me guess you were able to interpret my stating "if possible" as my absolute belief it can happen ?

Yes i have, several...i did read your if, and interpreted it as you stated.. if we can burn manure and piss and produce 600 gigawatts from every toilet then we won't need nuclear reactors will we? notice i said if... but read some physics and you will find out that it isn't possible,, same with "cold" fusion

[Big Snowballs]

read some physics and you will find out that it isn't possible,, same with "cold" fusion

I do believe Cold Fusion is a long-shot but remember "It's not possible" has been said by many great minds and many have been proven wrong (some only in theory) over time.
If adhering to books on a subject that claim absolute impossibilities we would never advance.
Disregarding limitations has changed the world.
Hallelujah and Amen !

[Cono Este]

I have no idea what I am talking about, and I go back and forth on this one. But recently I made the mistake of renting an apartment near a train line in my city. Coal trains from Wyoming pass through about every 30 minutes, 24/7. 120 cars per train. 100 million tons a yr on this line alone. Its fucking amazing.

Today I vote nuke so long as man doe snot fuck it up.

[Ted Striker]

Where is that coal going, China?

[Cono Este]

Indianapolis i think, Memphis etc..I'd hang myself but this is just temporary and there is poontang near by.

[Ted Striker]

The reason I asked is because anyone who lives along a rail line where the coal trains are westbound could see a big increase in trains. There is a proposed coal port just north of here that if constructed, would be the biggest in North America - approximately double the size of the current largest port in Vancouver BC. Folks here are not happy with the prospect of an additional ~15 trains per day.

[Cono Este]

These are east bound. These cars are all grossly overweight, 250k a piece just grinding along the lines. I read somewhere how the coal trains are half the rail line business. Pretty amazing.

edit: one just came by and my son said "I hate those trains cant they just carry it in a pipeline?"lol

[Ted Striker]

That's a good one.

My issue with coal trains is more with the loss in the form of coal dust than the noise - but the noise is definitely annoying.

[up an down]

I do believe Cold Fusion is a long-shot but remember "It's not possible" has been said by many great minds and many have been proven wrong (some only in theory) over time.
If adhering to books on a subject that claim absolute impossibilities we would never advance.
Disregarding limitations has changed the world.
Hallelujah and Amen !

what you say about great minds in the past etc. is true,,, cold fusion would be a totally new behavior of matter... so far no confirmed examples,,,,it isn't adhering to books, it's adhering to observed reality and with tested theory.. i guess you can believe in the possibility of anything.. maybe baby jesus will make you king of the solar system with the ability to fart unlimited clean energy out of your ass for the next billion years... that is just as likely as cold fusion....

[Big Snowballs]

. maybe baby jesus will make you king of the solar system with the ability to fart unlimited clean energy out of your ass for the next billion years...

That would be awesome !
Blue Flame Fusion here I come !

Tested theories ? OK I'll give you that only when Dark Matter is actually proven !

[up an down]

That would be awesome !
Blue Flame Fusion here I come !

Tested theories ? OK I'll give you that only when Dark Matter is actually proven !

dark matter proof or disproof will probably take a long while.. ditto with dark energy, the various string theories, symmetry theories..but the LHC might give some proof or disproof about the higgs boson in the near future

[Big Snowballs]

the LHC might give some proof or disproof about the higgs boson in the near future

Time will tell...hopefully !

[vt_ski]

I like how this thread started with Nukes and veered to string theory. Go TGR!
Nukes do have to be a small part of the solution, but I feel the long term storage of the waste is being overlooked. Sure, it's easy to because we and our children and our children's children won't be alive to deal with it. I think the potential from solar, wind, hydro (deployed on both a large and small/local scale) and efficiency can greatly reduce our dependence on fossil sources. (Remember, nuke material still has to be mined, transported and refined, all burning - you guessed it - fossil stuff.)

Getting the goddamn gubment to change our energy policy and market prices to accurately reflect the cost of coal, oil, etc is the biggest roadblock. 90% disapproval rating of congress. Are you fucking kidding me? No wonder we aren't making leaps and bounds on this issue.
/endrant

[up an down]

I like how this thread started with Nukes and veered to string theory. Go TGR!
Nukes do have to be a small part of the solution, but I feel the long term storage of the waste is being overlooked. Sure, it's easy to because we and our children and our children's children won't be alive to deal with it. I think the potential from solar, wind, hydro (deployed on both a large and small/local scale) and efficiency can greatly reduce our dependence on fossil sources. (Remember, nuke material still has to be mined, transported and refined, all burning - you guessed it - fossil stuff.)

Getting the goddamn gubment to change our energy policy and market prices to accurately reflect the cost of coal, oil, etc is the biggest roadblock. 90% disapproval rating of congress. Are you fucking kidding me? No wonder we aren't making leaps and bounds on this issue.
/endrant

another issue, at least for the free market fags, is the government subsidies of liability insurance. HUGE $ to insure nuke plants..and the more plants the more taxpayer $ to the big corp that build and run the plants..

[Tippster]

Storage is an issue only because we are assuming all Nuke plants produce waste like the ones we have.

That's like saying all modern cars emit the same amount of pollutants as those built in the 40's, simply for being internal combustion engine vehicles.

If waste is your prime concern with nuclear power then you should be the loudest voice for modernization/replacement of our power plants. Renewable energy like wind or solar will never give you the bang for the buck/location/footprint as nuclear power can. Solar by definition only is "on" 50% of the time. Wind only works when the wind is blowing, which is rather unpredictable for most locations and not constant no matter what.

Nuclear is always on and barring a very unlikely scenario (Fukushima happened once, not annually) always works. It is the single most reliable power source there currently is.

[liv2ski]

Storage is an issue only because we are assuming all Nuke plants produce waste like the ones we have.

I watch a piece on 60 Minutes once regarding the French Nuclear Program.. I would swear I remember seeing a huuuuuuggggeeee recycling plant in the piece. I honestly thought/think that the French have the technology to recycle most of the spent fuel.

[ArmadaBC]

I watch a piece on 60 Minutes once regarding the French Nuclear Program.. I would swear I remember seeing a huuuuuuggggeeee recycling plant in the piece. I honestly thought/think that the French have the technology to recycle most of the spent fuel.

We made it illegal...kinda.

Coal kills 10k-20k a year in the U.S. alone, per unit of energy it puts out more nuclear waste than nuclear power. We have 300,000 tons of thorium waste from the burning of coal, you can actually make power from thorium which the Indians are pursuing. Coal is a fucking disaster and should be phased out with 70 wind 30 nuclear. It would cost about 2 trillion and you'd get a non-3rd world grid as a bonus.

As for fusion, there is a pretty good chance in less than 5 years and with about another 100mil you would have commercial grade fusion reactors that are very safe. For along time we have been able to create fusion, it isn't particularly hard, any mildly intelligent dude with some high voltage gear and some reading can build one. The box that you put the fusor in however is far more difficult.

The polywell works in concept and every test they have put it through has gone exactly as the inventor believed it would. They have made 8 of these things and there really are only two more to go before we know if net energy is produced. So far the scaling has gone as predicted so that is quite positive. Its very safe as well, currently their is a gentlemen in Brooklyn running an earlier version in his garage. This was a project that was 100% Barry/W money, which would be hilarious if it works....but it is now a Navy project and the Barry money has run out so we won't hear anything until it gets installed in a submarine or doesn't work.

[Big Snowballs]

For those of you that think Nuclear is safe check this out;
PBS Frontline

[ArmadaBC]

For those of you that think Nuclear is safe check this out;
PBS Frontline

I watched that and certainly enjoyed it but then you must explain to me how you think coal is safe.

Nuclear power in its entire history has killed maybe 10,000 people. Chernobyl killed 30 directly, about 2000 cases of thyroid cancer and that's fucking it. UNSCEAR and about 100 others have been totally unable to find any link between Chernobyl and a rise in cancer outside of thyroid cancer in children mentioned above. 3 mile Island and Fukashima killed 0.

Coal kills 10-15k people a year. Coal per unit of power produces more nuclear waste than nuclear power. The EROEI on coal without CCS is 5.5 and only 1.5 with CCS were as nuclear is 11. Coal in one year kills more people than nuclear power ever has but because it does it in a different way we perceive it as being far less dangerous.

Nuclear Power is the safest form of power we have that can provide the kind of MW we need. If we as a society decide we don't want nuclear power I say great but your going to need to cut about a billion base load MW hours so good luck.

[Big Snowballs]

If we as a society decide we don't want nuclear power I say great but your going to need to cut about a billion base load MW hours so good luck.

This might be a solution !

[altasnob]

Bill Gates company TerraPower to build reactor at Wyoming coal plant

The candidate reactor sites are the Wyodak plant near Gillette in coal-rich northeastern Wyoming, the Naughton plant near Kemmerer in southwestern Wyoming, the Jim Bridger plant outside Rock Springs in southwestern Wyoming and the Dave Johnston plant near Glenrock in uranium-rich east-central Wyoming.

https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...ng-coal-plant/

[mud]

I vote for Rock Springs, it already looks like a post-apocalyptic nuclear site.