Just read about Sirens in Minot, everyone has to evacuate.
Is this the same area, read something about "silo" being nearbye?
http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/556001.html
Looks like another plant in Japan and those in the US could go pear shaped as well, not a good year for nuclear energy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/26/fort-calhoun-flooding-nuclear-plant-nebraska_n_884773.html
If our nuke plants used Tokamac fusion instead of fission, this wouldn't be a problem. Then again, with the recent discovery of antihydrogen atoms in thunderstorm clouds and the technology to store antimatter for long periods of time getting better and better, imagine how much worse a nuclear accident could be in the future...
Originally posted by Darth Jello
If our nuke plants used Tokamac fusion instead of fission, this wouldn't be a problem.
True, but they wouldn't be producing and power either.
Thorium based molten salt reactors are supposed to be the Gen IV nuke plants on the basis that they would be "walk away safe". A guy that Scientific American interviewed said something about one being hit by an asteroid after the power fails.
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
True, but they wouldn't be producing and power either.Thorium based molten salt reactors are supposed to be the Gen IV nuke plants on the basis that they would be "walk away safe". A guy that Scientific American interviewed said something about one being hit by an asteroid after the power fails.
maybe true, but the industry is pressing regulators to allow them to continue to use old varieties of reactors rather than the hugely expensive upgrades that would be necessary under even lax current regulation. IMHO, it would take a president stronger than Obama on spending to force the industry to make itself that safe
Originally posted by inimalist
maybe true, but the industry is pressing regulators to allow them to continue to use old varieties of reactors rather than the hugely expensive upgrades that would be necessary under even lax current regulation. IMHO, it would take a president stronger than Obama on spending to force the industry to make itself that safe
Probably, though these two accidents would make it a PR win (actually they'd make it a PR win two years from now when people barely remember, announcing it today would just produce comparison to how safe Fukushima was supposed to be).
The incentive for someone to do it is also partly economic since thorium is cheaper than uranium, so not quite so much pressure might be needed. The big problem seems to be reprocessing, which no private entity in the US is willing to do. I suspect that will be the main thing killing thorium salt since it means two risky business propositions.
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Probably, though these two accidents would make it a PR win (actually they'd make it a PR win two years from now when people barely remember, announcing it today would just produce comparison to how safe Fukushima was supposed to be).The incentive for someone to do it is also partly economic since thorium is cheaper than uranium, so not quite so much pressure might be needed. The big problem seems to be reprocessing, which no private entity in the US is willing to do. I suspect that will be the main thing killing thorium salt since it means two risky business propositions.
meh, Obama seems willing to forgo other spending options that have widespread support in America
It would be awesome, I'm a total supporter of nuclear, I just think it needs even stricter safety standards than we think are necessary on most things. "walk away" safe would be awesome, but even the nuclear industry is going to be fighting against that, because of the initial costs involved, at least, imho
Originally posted by inimalist
as bad as the deepwater horizon?
Oh and the Tokamac works and ITER will prove it. If you're going to use a non-renewable nuclear power source instead of nanophotovoltaic plating and textiles, you may as well use an efficient power source with up to two billion years of reserves.