Science a GoGo's Home Page Forums General Discussion General Science Discussion Forum Nukular...renewable?

"Nuclear power is a renewable source of energy, and the less demand there is for non-renewable sources of energy, like fossil fuels, the better off it is for the American people,"

Anyone else find this statement, well, not fit for peer review?

Where are we going to put all the waste products from the generation of nuclear power? This needs to be thought through to its logical conclusion. It is not true that all nuclear power is renewable, only some types. The waste material generated by nuclear power generating stations is radioactive as well as mundanely toxic and has to be contained somehow until it is decayed to less dangerous levels. How you gonna solve that little debacle? Not in my backyard.

The back yard would be, umm, perfect for six months or so (in open air). Then vitrify this waste and dump it into the cavernous depths of the world's oceans.

Fifty years of All of our energy needs would not appreciably, if even noticeably, increase the average radioactivity levels of the oceans'~

This(modular PBRs) would/should buy us some time so to develop more ooportune/proficient energy sources ~regards

I don't think there is a nuclear technology that is renewable. Fission reactors consume what is a finite supply of material. Breeder reactors can generate another round of fissile material, but there is still a limited amout.

Perhaps he was thinking of "non greenhouse" energy?

Fission products have a lower density than fuel (plus gaseous products, too). Fuel pellet burn is limited to about 1% or the unavoidable swell jams fuel elements them in place. Pebble beds crack at somewhat higher burns, so that isn't a full solution to the problem.

Fuel is then discarded (stupid and standard) or military reprocessed. A clean transuranic cut for bombs gives an alpha-contaminated beta-decay waste stream that must be stored forever. Stupid. A civilian fuel cycle would isolate clean beta-decay fission products for a few centuries' storage (lots of gamma, too) and a beta-dirty fuel recycle that could only be redirected with death.

If energy were cheap (and it most certainly is - petroleum is $(US)1/bbl at Saudi wellheads) certain favored entities would not be making their mammoth profits. Look at the farm price of a bushel of corn, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange price of a bushel of corn, and the supermarket price of a bushel of corn. Jackbooted State compassion makes it possible.

"...real truth for the ruling classes' technicians."

To clarify, I noted PBRs for their availability (read easily and quickly constructed) and for their promise of stability/safety (not to mention small footprint).

The truth is that IFR has the ability to far more efficiently use (and reuse) fuel while obviating the production of Any weapons grade recoverable materials.

I have a problem imagining why a virtually inexhaustible supply of cheap, decentralized power is not even mentioned by tptb~