Nuclear power

[Skotty]

There's lots of ways to do it. You can mix it into Anti-Growth Marine Paint used for Cargo ships. Even dumping barrels that sink into a 3 mile deep trench would probably do it... by the time it gets to sensitive areas it would be diluted this was a method which was studied years ago but never implemented.

Public fear of radiation is ridiculous... but no one ever accused humanity of being rational...

Look at the Gluten Free Craze (Not counting people with Celiacs)

Yeah, I don't get the Gluten thing. Seemed to pop up out of nowhere. Now it's a thing. Seems incredibly silly.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Hmm.
How about San Diego instead ?

Trying to be funny? Didn't work. San Diego isn't geologically stable. Yucca mountain is.

 

[Skotty]

There's lots of ways to do it. You can mix it into Anti-Growth Marine Paint used for Cargo ships. Even dumping barrels that sink into a 3 mile deep trench would probably do it... by the time it gets to sensitive areas it would be diluted this was a method which was studied years ago but never implemented.

Public fear of radiation is ridiculous... but no one ever accused humanity of being rational...

Look at the Gluten Free Craze (Not counting people with Celiacs)

Also, I have to say I find your talk of dilution surprising given that you have otherwise been pretty anti-nuclear for energy production. You may be right about dilution, but I have to wonder if large scale use of dilution would put us in a similar situation as we are now with CO2. Seemed fine at first, until everyone was diluting it into the atmo, and scientists started looking at it closer, and now it's a problem. A similar situation could occur with radiation dilution. Though perhaps the key difference there is the energy density of nuclear; there's very little waste volume with nuclear.

 

[SageBrush]

Trying to be funny? Didn't work. San Diego isn't geologically stable. Yucca mountain is.

Is Yucca mountain impervious to error ? To a bomb ? To groundwater contamination ?

Every NIMBY has their own good arguments why somewhere else is a better idea.

 

[nwdiver]

Also, I have to say I find your talk of dilution surprising given that you have otherwise been pretty anti-nuclear for energy production. You may be right about dilution, but I have to wonder if large scale use of dilution would put us in a similar situation as we are now with CO2. Seemed fine at first, until everyone was diluting it into the atmo, and scientists started looking at it closer, and now it's a problem. A similar situation could occur with radiation dilution. Though perhaps the key difference there is the energy density of nuclear; there's very little waste volume with nuclear.

If you read my posts I've been pretty clear as to why I'm convinced fission is a fools pursuit. Cost. I'd love to see cost effective nuclear power displace fossil fuels but it has become abundantly clear this is next to impossible. Further... the industry has no interest in displacing fossil fuels. So it's an impossible goal with no motivation to achieve it... what do you think their odds are?

Since the industrial revolution we've dumped ~80% as much CO2 into the atmosphere as there was at the beginning of the industrial revolution. The total amount of nuclear waste generated since 1950 is ~80k tons. That's 0.002%. Beyond that... there's research that indicates that there's a 'Uranium Cycle' in the ocean. The concentration of Uranium is held at it's current level by chemical reactions with the sea floor so you can add or remove tons of it without a change in the long term concentration.

There were many reasons I walked away from a relatively easy 6-figure job at URENCO. The fact that ~90% of my co-worker were climate change deniers and the CEO commuted in a Toyota Tundra was certainly up there . He parked right next to the charging stations they tried to stop from getting installed and I walked past his truck everyday. I can't imagine this would be the case in the solar or wind industry. The nuclear industry could not care less about climate change or clean energy and it shows. Success (nuclear power further mitigating climate change) is not one of the possible outcomes.

 

[SageBrush]

The fact that ~90% of my co-worker were climate change deniers and the CEO commuted in a Toyota Tundra was certainly up there .

I don't doubt your estimate of AGW denialism in the industry, but profit and job security a green-washing makes.

 

[nwdiver]

I don't doubt your estimate of AGW denialism in the industry, but profit and job security a green-washing makes.

I don't need income. I need purpose. I was tired of wasting my finite time and talent on thankless tasks that are no longer relevant.

Here's a sobering article from Utility Dive.
If nuclear is not in the future US energy mix....

 

[SageBrush]

I don't need income. I need purpose.

I know exactly how you feel.

I recently finished my own PV array, and have now found a local volunteer group that puts up residential PV arrays in return for some reciprocal volunteer effort. It makes my time away from work meaningful and enjoyable. You are a role model by the way.

 

[nwdiver]

I recently finished my own PV array, and have now found a local volunteer group that puts up residential PV arrays in return for some reciprocal volunteer effort. It makes my time away from work meaningful and enjoyable. You are a role model by the way.

Thank you.

That's intriguing. The only other organized solar install non-profit I've seen was Grid Alternatives. As much as I really enjoyed the pro-bono work I slowly came to accept that I needed a turnkey business to actually start making the progress we need. There will always be a place for DIY but I think most people are uncomfortable with weekend warriors working on their roof. Once my company gets to a more secure financial position my intention is to have at least 1 'at-cost' or sponsored install per quarter in low income areas. The best marketing tool for solar is often seeing a house with solar. I can't think of a better way to show that solar is cost effective than for it to show up in low income neighborhoods. The fools still charging $5/w are doing a tremendous disservice to the industry

Our goal is still scale. I really hope we can get to ~8kW per week in a year then accelerate exponentially from there. I think we can be at $2/w in a couple years

 

[mspohr]

South Carolina nuclear fallout.
It's getting ugly
Emails: Toshiba, Westinghouse accused of deceit, malfeasance in run-up to South Carolina nuclear plant failure

 

[SageBrush]

South Carolina nuclear fallout.
It's getting ugly
Emails: Toshiba, Westinghouse accused of deceit, malfeasance in run-up to South Carolina nuclear plant failure

It is fake rage on the part of the utility execs. Welcome to the world of Electric monopolies where CapEx investments are paid with a ~ 10% profit built-in. Project failure and lack of due diligence do not matter.

I wonder what that turkey's bonuses have been the past five years.

Which is not to say that Toshiba does not have a story to tell. They fell into a scam perpetrated by the previous American owners of Westinghouse and sh1t has been rolling downhill ever since.

 

[RubberToe]

South Carolina nuclear fallout.
It's getting ugly
Emails: Toshiba, Westinghouse accused of deceit, malfeasance in run-up to South Carolina nuclear plant failure

Was going to link to this story, but I see you beat me to it. This is my favorite part of the article:

"The relationship between the utilities and Westinghouse took a sharp turn earlier this year when Westinghouse admitted that it never had a construction schedule for two reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville."

RT

 

[mspohr]

New windfarms to become far cheaper than Hinkley Point, experts claim

UK windfarms cheaper than Hinkley Point, experts claim

Another sign that nuclear is just too expensive

 

[SageBrush]

New windfarms to become far cheaper than Hinkley Point, experts claim
UK windfarms cheaper than Hinkley Point, experts claim
Another sign that nuclear is just too expensive

The UK has known that for a long time

 

[mspohr]

The UK has known that for a long time

Not the politicians.

 

[macpacheco]

link from nbcnews.com regarding thorium:
Have physicists found the key to safer nuclear power?

My favorite quote:
"More than 45 years later, thorium-based nuclear fission is still as promising as ever."
Um, they do realize that that's a condemnation, not an endorsement, don't they?

First the important thing isn't Thorium, but molten salt reactors.
MSRs were never tried beyond 2 research reactors which apparently were totally successful.
Due to political reasons they were killed (president from California didn't want to give billions to TN, only Oak Ridge of all national nuclear labs was working on MSR).
You can't condemn it until it fails.
While the USA is pretty keen not to do any basic nuclear research, many other countries are seriously working on it, some with public funding, some not. There are 2 MSR companies in the USA, but one was ridiculously over ambitious (transatomic) and one ridiculously under funded (Flibe energy).
We'll see Thorium in a significant percentage of existing reactors (non MSRs) within a decade or two, as the advantages of Th232 as an additive (5-10%) or as 20-90% of some fuel formulations will become very clear.
Nuclear companies are ultra conservative. They aren't keen on adopting anything that they don't see as a slam dunk. Thorium is far from that for the next few years.
If you want to criticize, please take the time to properly learn the basics of the subject.

The whole anti VAX, gluten and many other crazes just show how collectively stupid most of us are on subjects we hold no solid knowledge about. And how eager we are to accept any article that sounds like what we want to hear.

I have been studying nuclear power since Fukushima. Got pissed off after so much non sense was spewed about nuclear.

 

[SmartElectric]

Nuclear energy is not succeeding because of fear of the technology, it's failing due to cost.

Tough to compete with wind turbines and solar that can be produced in a factory built in one year or less and using production equipment based on basic modern tools and methods.

Ontario is spending $20B to upgrade existing reactors, and the power produced at 9c/kWh is 50% more expensive than it used to be and is no longer competitive with new wind and solar.

Ontario spent billions upgrading gas generation to 7GW to handle outage situations and refurbishing efforts. Those gas plants sit idle for years at a time, funded by extra payments, so we can have backup generation for when the nuclear fleet is half offline for rebuild.

Solar and wind don't need 7GW of backup in Ontario, but people think that's the reason gas was built out, sadly, nuclear is the reason.

 

[nwdiver]

You can't condemn it until it fails.

And you can't say it works until it works...

We'll see Thorium in a significant percentage of existing reactors (non MSRs) within a decade or two, as the advantages of Th232 as an additive (5-10%) or as 20-90% of some fuel formulations will become very clear.

Is there even 1?

The whole anti VAX, gluten and many other crazes just show how collectively stupid most of us are on subjects we hold no solid knowledge about. And how eager we are to accept any article that sounds like what we want to hear.

So Gluten was the reason the cost of Vogtle ballooned to >$14/w?

 

[nwdiver]

Wonder if they'll ever get past Stage 1....

Utility CEO: Don't sell off failed nuclear project for parts

 

[SageBrush]

Wonder if they'll ever get past Stage 1....

Utility CEO: Don't sell off failed nuclear project for parts

I imagine the door hit him on the way out.