[TheForge] now Japanese nuke plants OT: POL:

[peter fels]

Seems you've summed it up about right to me Jim.
I do believe that until there is a convincing system in place 
to safely and economically deal with decommissioning and the spent fuel stockpiles;
Not to mention places like Hanford...
That future nuke plants are a foolish proposition.

I have a great affection for technology,
and believe research should go forward on all fronts..
But........


On Mar 14, 2011, at 4:20 PM, James Binnion wrote:

> Peter,
> 
> I know that Diablo Cyn should probably not have been built there but this is the kind of compromise power companies make that I was alluding to.  Just because there is a group of faults in CA does not mean that you can't build a safe fission plant there, it is probably not economically viable to do it with the types of reactors that are currently in use for power generation but that does not mean it can't be done. With that said I am not certain that there has been a "safe" commercial fission power plant built in the US. The Navy is just barely able to do so and they can exert a level of oversight and control on its contractors and operators that civilian power companies can't even come close to. And yes I know there are problems with the military contractors and oversight issues. However when the commissioning crew is going to have to ride, sleep, eat and live within 100 feet of the reactor core they tend to watch what the yard guys are doing rather closely. 
> 
> The newest generation of power reactor designs use gas moderated cores and are theoretically not able to melt down because they don't rely on water to cool and transfer power from the core. But none of them have been built in the US as we have had an unofficial moratorium on new nuclear power plants for 25 years now. I would be very happy to see the pressurized water reactors go away but as long as fossil fuels are available and cheap we will not be driven to build new safer fission plants. 
> 
> 
> James Binnion
> jbin at well.com
> 
> 
> 
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