President Obama occasionally gets things right. In his State of the Union address he called for more "safe, clean nuclear power plants." And yesterday he called for $54 billion of federal loan guarantees to those who would build this new generation of nuclear power. See: Loan Guarantees. IF we can take him at his word (the big "if" is on purpose), then this would be an important step forward in the U.S.'s attempt to achieve energy independence. In this speech he also mentioned more offshore drilling for gas and oil. This would be wonderful if it happened, but my cynicism takes over here and such a development (ANWR too?) I'm afraid, is even more suspect.It would seem to this author that the real path to our nation's energy independence might require the following steps:
1) Build as many new nuclear power plants as can be economically financed and open up Yucca Mountain for long-term nuclear waste disposal (if required).
2) Aim to generate all our electrical needs from nuclear energy (east and west coast) and from coal-fired plants (middle America). No more natural gas and oil-fired electrical power plants should be given permits.
3) Encourage all Americans to heat their homes with natural gas and help build the infrastructure and offer the tax incentives to accomplish this. The objective should be no more oil-heated homes.
4) Specify that kerosene, diesel fuel, and gasoline are the most desirable fuels for transportation vehicles (air, rail, and ground). Offer the necessary incentives to achieve better mileage in these vehicles (including hybrid technology). Investigate liquefied coal as a long-term vehicular fuel option.
5) Set a national goal of ceasing all foreign oil imports within ten years (using the above methodologies and including oil recovery from our vast oil shale deposits.) I predict that the price of Mideast oil would plummet as a consequence of just such a goal setting.
6) Stop wasting federal funds on solar, tidal, geothermal, and wind-power projects and use these funds instead on the above items. Let the private sector fund any of these "green" projects that make any economic sense (likely very few).
I can dream can't I? Tick ... tick ... tick.
Today there is a story about the decay of nuclear power plants - leaking Tritium into groundwater after 40 years due to poor maintenece practices.
ReplyDeleteThis is the Nuclear conundrum: Governemnt bureacracy is too inefficient to allow them to run nukes; and private industry is too greedy to trust them to safely run nukes.
The half life of tritium (H3 ... part of heavy water that is (was) used to bathe the reactor cores) is 12.3 years. This means that after 40 years only about 1/10 of it persists. Yes, it is low-level radioactive but not like it is uranium or anything. You probably get more radiation in one day from the radon in your basement or annual dental x-rays than you would if you drank fifty gallons of such ground water.
ReplyDeleteSigned, A Greedy Capitalist
That's it, deny everything. It is indeed a radiation hazard to humans when inhaled, ingested via food, water, or absorbed through the skin, repeatedly over a period of time. Such as in groundwater.
ReplyDeleteGreedy capitalists will hire Homer Simpsons to maintain plants. Scary.
Gullible DEN,
ReplyDeleteDon't you find it the slightest bit curious that the tritium ground-water leak and the attempt to build hysteria around same has occured in Vermont? Perhaps if you talked to Bernie Sanders and his tree-hugger friends they would explain everthing in a fair and dispassionate way? (Tritium radiation cannot even penetrate the skin. Look it up Einstein.)
Signed,
Ned Flanders
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