Jim Yanik wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in :

Jim Yanik wrote:

"Pete C." wrote in
:

Kurt Ullman wrote:

In article ,
"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

Then they want us to convert to electric autos...
Using nuclear power plants will eliminate even more mercury
emissions.

Not to complicate the issue, but a number of arms control
experts have pointed out that there's only one way we'll stop
"rogue states" from eventually developing nuclear weapons:
Eliminate civilian nuclear power plants.

Every benefit comes with a hidden horror show.

As empty and bogus an argument by the anti-nuke propagandists as
there is. Development of nuclear weapons by a "rogue state" in no
way depends on the presence of civilian nuclear power plants.


No, it doesn't depend on civilian facilities. However, as you are
now well aware, fuel from civilian plants can (and has been) turned
into fuel suitable for nuclear weapons. The presence of a "legal"
civilian facility eliminates the need to shop around for a fuel
source.

Please don't continue to dispute these facts. You are about to look
silly.

Just to mention it in passing, the original suggestion of the use
of
nukes for electricity was in the US. I would doubt that one or two
more legal civilian facilities within those borders woudl have a big
impact on proliferation. The original discussion was supposed to be
about the US using more nuclear power.

Yep, cheap, clean, safe, non polluting, non greenhouse gas releasing
nuclear power - power that could be used to replace a good deal of our
current oil use and bring us a lot closer to energy self sufficiency.
With the additional side benefit of eliminating all the daily
pollution from coal and nat gas fired power plants *now*, instead of
30 years from now when we might have some of the renewable energy
sources improved enough to make a real impact.


I wonder if we could somehow use nuclear power plants to make the coal-
gasoline conversion process more economical and practical?
Then we could employ our vast coal deposits to run our autos.

It would be better if we could utilize the nuclear generated electricity
in a more environmentally friendly way such as providing charging power
for electric cars and plug in hybrids, and producing hydrogen for the
combustion side of the hybrids and for non hybrid vehicles. And of
course eventually transition from nuclear generated electricity and onto
renewable generated electricity once the renewable are viable in large
scale.


That would be great,EXCEPT that battery storage is not good enough to be
really practical yet.

That's sort of my point, if you provide free electricity from those
nukes for charging EVs / PIHs *everywhere* so you can drive your PIH 10
miles to the store and plug it in in the parking space while you shop,
replacing much of the electricity used on the trip there, then the range
issues would be less of a problem and more people would be able to
effectively use EVs or PIHs.

Although I've read Toshiba has come out with a new Li-ion battery that
recharges to 90% in 10 minutes. That could make a difference.

Battery technology continues to improve, but just not fast enough. If
batteries improved at the rate that hard drives do, we'd all be driving
electric SUVs with 500+ mile range, great performance and 10 minute
recharges.


Also,hydrogen storage for autos is in even worse shape.
So far,nothing beats gasoline/diesel for autos,and that's where our
vulnerability is,WRT the Middle East;petroleum.

It's hard to beat the hydrocarbons for energy density, but if there were
hydrogen fueling stations at even 1/4 of the density of current gas
stations it would be pretty viable for general use. I recall seeing a
piece on TV about a relatively compact and efficient hydrogen production
unit that combined with cheap power from the nukes (and eventually RE
when it catches up) would make hydrogen a viable replacement for a large
percentage of vehicles. Commercial vehicles are particularly good for a
hydrogen alternative since they travel pretty well defined routes making
it easy to insure they stay within range of a fueling station. City
busses and UPS trucks commonly use CNG currently and do just fine.


using nuclear power for our electric generation is a no-brainer.

Certainly it is the only technology that is a viable replacement for all
our coal and NG electric generation currently. It can eliminate a huge
amount of emissions now and provide a few decades breathing room to
improve and deploy RE technologies to eventually replace it.