frflyer

Six Reasons for Cloudy Skies on the Solar Energy Industry

Nuclear plants the size of a garden shed spread all over the world.
Yeah, I want a few of those in my back yard. Let's spread the availability of fissionable materials and nuclear waste around the world where everyone who wants some can get their hands on it.
Will we have curbside pick up of the radioactive waste too?
Are you nuts?

Nuclear power does NOT have a small carbon footprint. The only time that is true is after the fuel rods are in place and producing power. Every single step in the process is carbon intensive.

Read the Lean Guide to Nuclear Energy.
www.theleaneconomyconn...
and this:
www.cleanwisconsin.org...

It isn't sustainable in any way. How about peak uranium in ten years or so.
Nuclear power requires enormous amounts of water for cooling. In a world facing water problems in the future, we don't need that.

Nuclear power doesn't give us energy independence. We import 65% of our oil and 90% of our uranium. And now Russia is being lined up as a future source of 20% of our uranium.

Nuclear power is not safe. According to Argonne National Laboratory, an airliner crashing into a nuclear power plant could cause a complete meltdown, even if the containment building isn't compromised. Think the twin towers disaster was bad?

The transportation of radioactive waste from all over the country to Yucca Mt. is potentially dangerous, as well as expensive

There is no accountability with nuclear power. The Price-Anderson Act places most of the liability for nuclear accidents on the backs of taxpayers, not the nuclear power industry.

A nuclear power plant costs about $4,000 per kilowatt hour to build, compared with $1,400 per KWH for wind energy.

Wind and solar are much quicker to get up and running than nuclear or coal. And both can start generating power before large wind or solar farms are completed, because they are modular in design

Nuclear power is heavily subsidized. According to Earthtrack, Federal subsidies to new nuclear power plants are likely between 4 and 8 cents per kWh (levelized).

Every nuclear power plant will require at least $500 million to dismantlet, when it has outlived it's useful life. This adds to the nuclear waste disposal problem.

from the Lean Guide to Nuclear Energy
""The world’s endowment of uranium ore is now so depleted that the nuclear industry will never, from its own resources, be able to generate the energy it needs to clear up its own backlog of waste."
"Shortages of uranium – and the lack of realistic alternatives –leading to interruptions in supply, can be expected to start in the middle years of the decade 2010-2019, and to deepen thereafter."
"Every stage in the nuclear process, except fission, produces carbon dioxide. As the richest ores are used up, emissions will rise."

"Nuclear energy certainly has disadvantages, quite apart from the clincher problem of the depletion of its fuel. It is a source of low-level radiation which may be more dangerous than was previously thought. It is a source of high-level waste which has to be sequestered. Every stage in the process produces lethal waste, including the mining and leaching processes, the milling, the enrichment and the decommissioning. It is very expensive. It is a terrorist target and its enrichment processes are stepping stones to the production of nuclear weapons."

And the more we use up the low hanging fruit, the more radioactive tailings there will be as we try to squeeze a few ounces out of more and more tons of earth.

Now they tell us we can get uranium from sea water. sounds good until you find out we would have to filter 40,000 cubic miles of sea water every year to supply 200 reactors. How much energy would that take, if it were possible?

And nowhere do you mention solar thermal power plants which should be the kingpin of a clean energy grid. They can operate day and night and be used as base load, follow on, or peaker plants, exactly fitting their output to the daily energy demand cycle.
We could power the whole country with these, using less land than we now use for coal plants and coal mines. And they will compete head on with fossil fuel plants cost wise.
www.salon.com/news/fea...
Excellent article on solar thermal.