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That about sums up why I'm somewhat sadly against nuclear power. At the end of the day, try as we might and as clever as our "smart people" might be, it amounts to a species trying to McGyver a way to use a substance that is incredibly toxic- right down to the genetic level- to that species.

And as it gets floated out there that the endgame in Japan may be to just bury the mess under sand and concrete for the rest of human history, hoping for the best, while lord only knows what happens to future ground and seawater and so on... it becomes painfully obvious that this is NOT a technology we have a handle on.

Guys I'm a techno-geek, a sci-fi lover, a believer in the power of technology. I also believe that greenhouse gasses are f*ucking things up, and nuclear power generation is clean and green in that regard. I WANT to like it.

But I didn't before this latest example of just how fundamentally unable we are to truly control this process. I am that much less inclined to believe the "just trust us!" guys now.

Curious if this accident has changed anyone's minds about nuclear power. Also, for those pro-nuke, would you accept a plant 20 miles away from your home?

same thing can be said for fire.

Without it we best be ready to pay some really high prices for oil, gas and coal.

I have one 20 miles from my home.

Point taken, but a "fire"-fired <grin> power plant doesn't have the toxicity and long-term potential to basically destroy areas that are geological in scale, for amounts of time also geological in scale.

Put another way, a fire-fired power plant 25 miles from my house wouldn't make me happy, but contrast that with a nuke plant going in 25 miles away...

Whats more interesting in recent news is that the USA is sending robots to Japan to help. Domo arigato mister roboto.

Jeff,

What sources of energy do you support? Please don't say wind and solar. I'm asking about energy sources that can really supply our needs.

It seems that every one of them costs lives and negatively impacts the environment in one way or another.

I support nuclear power but I wouldn't put a reactor in a high earth quake risk area.

Rick

the main problem is building huge plants that can't be controled if thier is a problem,bigger is not always better.thier are small package plants that only supply small aeras (and these are small in size}that can be esaily managed if they have a problem.the technology is not bad just the way we are applying it.

I lived 15 miles away from Three Mile Island when that incident happened, didn't evacuate, and I'm still here with no health problems.

Another good point, but I'd counter by asking, don't you believe that we'd best get ready for more expensive energy regardless?

Also counter it by saying that here in Oregon we pay very high electric rates. Why? Because we are still paying for the Trojan nuclear plant via our electric bills... which was decommissioned over a decade ago if memory serves! So there's MY energy costing more because of a nuke plant.

... which is illustrative of the "Raid" aspect of this. At the end of the day, even if all goes well on the anthill while the Raid-fired plant <grin> is in operation... the ants have got a mess on their hands for a looong time to come.

If it isn't earthquake it's flood.
If not flood, tornado.
Hurricane.
Lightening strike.
Terrorist attack.
Meteorite strike.
etc

Long list of whatif's.

What I want to know is if Japan has had a 3rd containment failure. Sans that, I say it's no biggie. Listening to the news I'm inclined to believe that's a very good possibility.

Very bad news, if so.
Wish we could know for sure.

I live about 14 miles from a nuclear power plant. Doesn't bother me in the least. More nuclear plants, drill baby drill, wind, solar, and clean coal is fine by me. We need the energy. Until we come up with a cost effective viable alternative, let's make the best use of what we have.

I have a Nuke plant less than 10 miles from my home. They haven't had a major problem I am aware of in something like its 40 year +/- life. There was a small steam leak a while ago but it was quickly fixed with no harm to anyone or anything.
I don't know how many alternatives exist that people will tolerate. Where wind works, people bitch about the looks of the towers or their bird killing ability...Lots of NIBY's. Electric,other that what few run on water power,most burn coal to operate,,hmm,,burning coal,that doesn't sound too Green.Well there is solar. In my past I had involved in the building of 2 solar heated Town Halls. Great idea,unfortunately in this part of NY winters are generally very cloudy with little actual sunlight to generate much heat, at least no enough to make a solar heated building work. It seems to me that most of the alternate sources really don't work well enough for entire cities to depend on 24 hours a day.

I live with one about fifty miles from me, as the crow flies. Unfortunately, I am mainly east of it. I have never liked it there.

I am neither pro nor anti nuke at this point. I had been about convinced that we needed more of the things before this incident. I have a wait-and-see attitude now. So in a sense, it has made me think more about the issue. I don't know if "changed your mind" is the most appropriate description of what I think.

As to Toot's assertion that not having them will cause energy costs to rise, the last I knew, the one close to me had never paid for itself. It's been there probably nearly forty years.

I'd need to know more about how the technology has advanced and differs from the Jap meltdown. Then again, I think both sides are so emotionally invested in their own arguments as to be untrustworthy. You see it here even. This will either be ignored or spin downward into a flaming pissing insanity contest.

Jeff. If'n it's a Trojan, you should be safe.

You're covered!

To what degree of "high", Jeff? It is going up, no doubt but regarding nuclear, do the necessary full risks analysis and mitigate to the best you can.

More, smaller, less expensive nuke plants, strategically placed would appeal to me.

Take it offline and mothball it. Then see what you pay on fuel surcharges.

Away from the safety issue, I am not sure that Nuclear Power (current & near future technology)is financially viable, especially if the costs of decommissioning are taken into account...

If there wasn't Government financial assistance in various forms, and whole life costs were taken into account, I wonder if private industry would finance new stations??

As to the alternatives, we have to develop *many* different forms, not put all our eggs in one or two baskets.

A side from wind and solar power, the sea is probably the biggest potential source that is viable..And I just don't mean wave or tidal power..

We should be looking at producing bio fuels from algae/sea weeds such a kelp...

Our modern farming methods wash masses of fertilizer/nutrients into rivers and lakes and these already cause algae blooms, sometimes on a massive scale. As an example, remember the scenes on the lake shore in China prior to the last Olympics when thousands of tons of the stuff was washed up and had to be disposed off?
We also have to build more efficiently, with regards heating and cooling for our homes and work places...If termites can build those huge colony�s which are internally remarkably temperature stable, despite huge external climatic variations, (and do that without electricity or technology) surely we humans can do better?

I'd much rather live 25 miles from a nice nuclear plant than a coal fired one. As far as immediate danger, do you have any idea how many people die every year producing the coal and natural gas to fire non-nuclear power plants? And as far as long term health effects, compare the death toll from US nuclear plants (that would be zero) to the health effects on those downwind of coal fired plants.

In spite of nuclear power plant near me,my electric bill is mostly taxes,fees and charges by who knows who
Last month my actual cost of electric used was $21.38 not bad,but add to this all the crap, graft, taxes and hidden costs. I have a delivery charge of $16.00. A NY assessment of $1.21 a SBC charge of $1.84 for what? I don't know. Now there is a variable supply charge,merchant function charge. Taxes etc.
So my electric use of 21.38 now costs me $54.12

And that surcharge is a "floating charge", not a fixed one.