• Replies 39 replies
  • Subscribers 35 subscribers
  • Views 1646 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Nuclear power

TheCatWoman

Starmer has announced plans for new nuclear power stations dotted about England and Wales, they will be the new small scale ones, rather than the monsters we've been used too. I still don't want them, I don't see nuclear as a clean energy solution, nuclear waste is by definition dirty and you can't make clean with dirty. The waste will still have to be stored somewhere and will still be dangerous for tens of thousands of years, longer than humans have been out of Africa. It's said that it will power the new industries of the future, such as AI, is this a future we want? We will have less opportunities to object to them too, as this sort of development will be green lighted despite any local opposition.

How do you feel about a new nuclear power station on your doorstep?

Parents
  • TheCatWoman said:
    I still don't want them,

    Nuclear power is a well established, relatively safe form of power generation and is much more reliable than any of the green sources of power.

    How clean is green power anyway? There are huge problems with the lifespan and disposal of wind turbines and solar panels still for example I have connections in e-waste recycling and it has been impossible to find places that can recycle these effectively leading them to be dumped in rubbish tips and contributing to ground contamination.

    The carbon cost of manufacturing these also needs to be taken into consideration

    The disposal of radioactive waste has quite a few effective solutions now such as encasing in glass to hold it contain it and dropping it into deep drill wells in geologically stable areas such as the North Sea, encasing it in hundreds of meters of concrete.

    The voulmes of waste are quite small so this is a viable solution.

    If we find ourselves in a time when the rock thousands of meters below the North Sea is now on our doorstep then I expect the nuclear waste to the the least of our worries.

    I did a lot of research into nuclear power when I studied physics in the late 1980s and it was robust back then, Between then and now it has been only in exceptional circustances that there have been any issues (Fukishima for example) and I suspect many more have died or suffered from the dangers and pollution from gas / oil / coal powered stations.

    Green energy is getting better but it is very inefficient and often not available when needed (think of a cloudy, still midwinters day. No wind, wave or solar energy to use so without some other supply we would freeze).

    Practicality is what is driving this - nuclear is not perfect but it is the best alternative available now. Once we have stable green energy available (geothermal perhaps) then we can look at alternatives.

    With the push to lower carbon emmissions and to go all electric with vehicles we need to generate a lot more power than we currently can. Green can't cut the demand so without nuclear as your backup then the grid starts to become unreliable and blackouts occurr.

    I would have no issues living near a nuclear power plant but then I know the protocols and physics of what goes on inside them.

Reply
  • TheCatWoman said:
    I still don't want them,

    Nuclear power is a well established, relatively safe form of power generation and is much more reliable than any of the green sources of power.

    How clean is green power anyway? There are huge problems with the lifespan and disposal of wind turbines and solar panels still for example I have connections in e-waste recycling and it has been impossible to find places that can recycle these effectively leading them to be dumped in rubbish tips and contributing to ground contamination.

    The carbon cost of manufacturing these also needs to be taken into consideration

    The disposal of radioactive waste has quite a few effective solutions now such as encasing in glass to hold it contain it and dropping it into deep drill wells in geologically stable areas such as the North Sea, encasing it in hundreds of meters of concrete.

    The voulmes of waste are quite small so this is a viable solution.

    If we find ourselves in a time when the rock thousands of meters below the North Sea is now on our doorstep then I expect the nuclear waste to the the least of our worries.

    I did a lot of research into nuclear power when I studied physics in the late 1980s and it was robust back then, Between then and now it has been only in exceptional circustances that there have been any issues (Fukishima for example) and I suspect many more have died or suffered from the dangers and pollution from gas / oil / coal powered stations.

    Green energy is getting better but it is very inefficient and often not available when needed (think of a cloudy, still midwinters day. No wind, wave or solar energy to use so without some other supply we would freeze).

    Practicality is what is driving this - nuclear is not perfect but it is the best alternative available now. Once we have stable green energy available (geothermal perhaps) then we can look at alternatives.

    With the push to lower carbon emmissions and to go all electric with vehicles we need to generate a lot more power than we currently can. Green can't cut the demand so without nuclear as your backup then the grid starts to become unreliable and blackouts occurr.

    I would have no issues living near a nuclear power plant but then I know the protocols and physics of what goes on inside them.

Children
No Data