IT IS NOT CLEAN!
Do you know about the RADIOACTIVE waste they put out?
Most of the radioactive isotopes in the waste emit large amounts of radiation and have extremely long half-lives (some longer than 100,000 years) creating long time periods before the waste will settle to safe levels of radioactivity.
A half-life is how long it takes for that radiation to disipate by half its original amt.
so if its low, around 50,000 years half life, it will be radioactive for around 1/2 a million years.
Few debates on nuclear power or nuclear weapons discuss the problems of waste disposal should the power plant or missile be decommissioned. Few debates on nuclear waste disposal discuss the amt of $$$$$$$$$$$$ it cost to store nuclear waste. And you will store it FOREVER!
So how much would it cost to store 1 million tons of RADIOACTIVE waste for 1/2 a million years?
i guess this is a 2 parter!
the waste products are expected to be immobilized for a very long period of time (many thousands of years).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_waste
6 Responses
It’s “clean” because other than the radioactive waste there is no other emissions from a nuclear power plant. The waste uranium and plutonium that is used in power plants is stored underground and as long as it’s done properly there should be no leaching into ground water. As for the cost I’m not sure how expensive it is.
The uranium that is used is also mined from underground in the first place. The plutonium is made from the uranium. In my opinion coal power plants are very much more destructive than nuclear ones.
nonsense, spent fuel is less radioactive than the ore it came from in only 500 years. Nuclear isn’t “clean”, but it is “cleaner”
than virtully all other power sources. Coal fire power plants release far more radioactive pollution than nuclear ones. Nucear energy remains the only realistic “green” option to sustain our energy needs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal#Coal_burning
notice from the link that coal plants produce MORE radioactive waste tha nuclear plants. Only radioactive wast from coal plants is spread throughout the atmosphere, whereas the nuclear plant waste is deposited under some desert mountain; contained.
The issue of radioactive waste is a technological issue that further research can and will address. The idea that this waste is just going to sit around and be dangerous for 50,000 years (or even more absurdly, 500,000 years) is just absurd. Science will find a solution to dispose of radioactive waste safely within a couple of decades.
Beyond that, nuclear power is a safe and clean option and is probably the most effective alternative to oil and coal generated power. Its footprint is small (unlike solar and wind power generation), the technology is developed (unlike geothermal or tidal power generation), and it doesn’t screw up the rivers (unlike hydroelectric).
Are you aware that we are building several nuclear power plants every year? Most are on Navy ships, a few are on college campuses, others are on military bases.
Nuclear waste is transported throughout this country every day to storage sites. You are just unaware of it happening. It’s safe and economic.
To keep the planet green, to reduce green house gases, America should be developing the technology for inexpensive simple nuclear power plants and selling this technology to the world.
Some energy sources aren’t a good idea no matter how clean they are. Ethanol isn’t clean or renewable either. People like it, because it makes them money.
The radioactive part of the waste is the least of its problems; most of it could be recycled if the laws would allow it. It’s the mining of the uranium that is so polluting. Since it would fission (like it did in Africa a couple million years ago) if it was too concentrated, it must be spread very thinly. It takes millions of tons of ore to make enough uranium to run a reactor, and all the mining equipment is using oil. The great slag heaps and tailpipe exhaust is never added in when talking about nuclear though, kinda like it isn’t mentioned when solar or wind comes up either.