Greetings and Salutations...

On 3 May 2005 17:05:04 GMT, (Chuck
Sherwood) wrote:

I suggest you read about three-mile island and Chernobl.
I wound rather rather more to a farm and cut my own wood for heat
than build a potentail time bomb that could kill the entire world
with one accident.

While this is a great picture and very "headline grabbing",
the fact of the matter is that not only was TMI not only the
WORST nuclear disaster in the US (That we know of), but, it also
proved the basic safety of the reactor design. The reactor
got so hot that it turned into a molten ball, and, sat that
way for a LONG time...yet...no containment breach occurred.
Now...in the years since TMI, reactor design HAS changed,
improving the safety and reliability of the whole process. I recall
reading about a new "hot pebble" design that, among other things,
is designed to fall back to a "idling" state when any problems
crop up.
There are hazards to power generation, no matter
HOW we do it. However, in terms of volume of final waste, and,
pollutions produced in comparison with burning fossil fuels,
nuclear power comes out WAY ahead. I suspect that part of
the problem with nuclear power is that, while everyone
understands building a fire and burning some coal, creating
heat from invisible fission is hard to grasp.
In any case, the question may become moot, in that
at some point we are going to burn the last lump of coal, and
the last gallon of petroleum, and, at that time, either we
will have found a new source of power (nuclear, either fusion
or fission, I would guess) or we are going to end up
with VERY radical lifestyle changes.
By the by...Solar and wind power IS nuclear power...
just the fission reactor is located offsite.
Regards
Dave Mundt