4 Responses

1. Why do you believe they are inefficient? Never heard that before.

2. Because they use the same old technology that an oil or coal fired plant uses (creating steam and using that to turn a steam turbine and electric generator), just the fuel used to create heat is different. Plus, nuclear is more inefficient than oil or coal because they need to have an additional heat loop process between the reactor and the steam turbine to isolate the radioactive water circulating in the core from the nonradioactive water circulating through the steam turbine and condenser. The energy content of uranium and plutonium : lots and lots of heat energy. Radium: hardly any heat energy at all.

3. Fusion is not in use currently, at least not on earth- it is the fundamental process of the sun. It requires a great deal of magnetic energy produced from electromagnets, and it has not proven stable enough to even achieve unity (power input=power output).

   Nuclear reactor fuel requires a lot of energy input to extract and process the materials to a useful fuel rod form. It is heavily subsidized (by your tax dollars) to make it a profitable venture. It is those subsidies which are driving the current push to make nuclear acceptable when it is a dirty fuel with a legacy that will last longer than the sun will shine. And with no storage facility your drinking water is at risk because most dry cask storage is in the watersheds and along riverbanks of rivers that are used directly or feed into rivers that are used for drinking water supplies. And the dry casks were meant for temporary use short term, many likely leak now or soon will leak because a permanent repository was believed to have been online back when most casks were just getting filled in the 1980’s. And now they sit.

   To determine energy content, you need to look at reaction equations, and reduction equations. Radium is very low- it used to be used on clock and watch hands because it would glow for a while once exposed to bright light. For a short time glow in the dark wall paint was available. Uranium has a higher energy content, and plutonium even higher. Plutonium is also one of the most toxic substances known to mankind.

4. You can understand why low efficiency is always designed into systems if you look at the way the water is cycled from the boiler to the turbine and on to the condenser. It is very inefficient compared to a modern steam power cycle with reheating. The temperature of the steam from the boiler(nuclear reactor) is too low for good efficiency. This has nothing to due with the safety of nuclear design and in my opinion these systems that basically just boil water are not needed and should not be allowed. Better design is needed