hi everybody

[Swinging Swede]

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

270 what?

MG

[Jazzmoose]

Damned if I know, but it's equivalent to 54 buses...

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

But I don't want to go to Splott!

MG

[papsrus]

Nuclear power has clearly gotten a bad rap here ....

I suspect that table depends on where you live.

I think the real issue with nuclear power is decommissioning - how long will it take before a power station becomes harmless? how long before the waste material becomes harmless? and the costs of keeping that site and material secure (REALLY secure) for that length of time. Decommissioning costs for 20 closed British nuclear power stations are presently estimated at £72 billion over the next century - though Greenpeace reckons £100 billion, because some matters have been left out of the estimates. But it takes ten thousand years for spent fuel to decay to safe levels. Civilisation is only about six thousand years old.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/oc...try.environment

MG

Yes. I think the pie chart might look a little different several thousand years from now. ... (For one thing, it would be 3-D, interactive, hyper-sortable and be touch-screen activated across all 85,000 system platforms in use both here and on Mars, but still would occasionally cause Windows to crash when importing it. They'll be working on a patch.) ... One would hope a solution to the problem of nuclear waste would be found by then. But, as you say, the cost and dangers of dealing with it in the meantime is not inconsequential.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Yes. I think the pie chart might look a little different several thousand years from now.

One would hope a solution to the problem of nuclear waste would be found by then. But, as you say, the cost and dangers of dealing with it in the meantime is not inconsequential.

To me, the worst aspect of this is that we're forcing decisionson our descendants for thousands of years. I don't think it's right to force decisions on others, now or later. So far, we've created problems that we've had to solve pretty well immediately so that we've had to take the consequences of our decisions ourselves in real time.

No one's trying to think up a way of us solving this problem in real time. And yet, in principle, the technology to do so is available. If you fill a series of unmanned spaceships with the stuff and boot it in the direction of the sun, the cost would be very high indeed, but doable and not greatly different from the costs involved in what we're doing now.

MG

[papsrus]

Yes. I think the pie chart might look a little different several thousand years from now.

One would hope a solution to the problem of nuclear waste would be found by then. But, as you say, the cost and dangers of dealing with it in the meantime is not inconsequential.

To me, the worst aspect of this is that we're forcing decisionson our descendants for thousands of years. I don't think it's right to force decisions on others, now or later. So far, we've created problems that we've had to solve pretty well immediately so that we've had to take the consequences of our decisions ourselves in real time.

No one's trying to think up a way of us solving this problem in real time. And yet, in principle, the technology to do so is available. If you fill a series of unmanned spaceships with the stuff and boot it in the direction of the sun, the cost would be very high indeed, but doable and not greatly different from the costs involved in what we're doing now.

MG

Can you imagine though if something went wrong during the launch of one of those spaceships? I recall a few years ago the U.S. military launched some satellite or something into orbit that contained a significant amount of radioactive material for some purpose (good intentions, I'm sure) and there was no small concern here, relatively near the launch site, about what the fallout would be in the case of launch failure.

But yes, I agree, the idea that we're creating dangerous waste that will last for thousands of years is mind-boggling.

(For some strange reason I'm reminded of the George Will thread about how civilization dealt with water pollution by drinking alcohol, and how people who could tolerate it were the ones who survived.)

[Jazzmoose]

To me, the worst aspect of this is that we're forcing decisionson our descendants for thousands of years. I don't think it's right to force decisions on others, now or later.

This has been standard operating procedure since the dawn of man. Admittedly, doing it knowingly is a bit different...

[GA Russell]

In Pennsylvania Dutch country, they leave off the pecans and call it shoo-fly pie.

[GA Russell]

My problem with nuclear power is that no insurance company is willing to touch it. The likelihood of a problem is very low, but the cost of such a problem is extremely high to say the least.

I'll have a more positive attitude toward it when the insurance companies feel that it is safe enough for them to get involved.

[papsrus]

My problem with nuclear power is that no insurance company is willing to touch it. The likelihood of a problem is very low, but the cost of such a problem is extremely high to say the least.

I'll have a more positive attitude toward it when the insurance companies feel that it is safe enough for them to get involved.

Lends new meaning to term "long-term policy" ...