IMHO, the attention being given to CO2 is misplaced. A study of the Earth's cyclic climate history (mostly from ice cores) shows that today, the climate should be in the beginning of a slow temperature decline into ice age due to solar and precessional cycles. The anthropogenic CO2 may have slightly forestalled that cold temperature slide. If suddenly the CO2 were eliminated at great economic impact, the protesters would have a sign change in a few decades to read - Stop Global Cooling! We should let economics make the right decision. The very idea of a carbon tax is absurd. With the coming ice age there will be substantial demand for LENR heating.
I also believe the nuclear industry should be responsible for their own liability, liability insurance, fuel disposal costs, and decommissioning costs in escrow - with none subsidized by the government. This is a commercially fair proposition that the nuclear industry would not survive. If the nuclear industry cannot compete now, with their true cost being substantially subsidized (liability and decommissioning), then they are far from being economically competitive in anything but their CO2 emission. Of course, a fully deployed LENR would fix the economics of the big energy industry by removing the huge liability danger, reducing the cost of liability insurance, eliminating fuel disposal costs, and eliminating decommissioning costs. Note that some of these costs would remain in big energy hot fusion if it ever became viable as currently envisioned - it would still have liability costs for possibility of huge tritium release, and decommissioning costs for the activated hardware. Hot fusion may be as expensive as the true cost of present nuclear fission, particularly if the R&D cost were amortized. Also, the other energy industries should be responsible for their own, sometimes hidden costs. Frackers should be liable for earthquake damage they cause and should have liability insurance to cover it. They should also pay for restoration to any water systems - public or private. The coal industry should have to pay an escrow for every cubic meter of soil they remove for future restoration of the site after they are done mining. The coal mining industry also has liability issues for which they bear responsibility - Ex. I believe there is an underground coal mine that has been on fire for 30 years that caused a whole town (in Pennsylvania?) to be permanently evacuated because no one has been able to extinguish the fire that has grown under the town. On Fri, Jun 10, 2016 at 7:20 AM, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote: > Axil Axil <janap...@gmail.com> wrote: > > >> Many old paid for nuclear plants are shutting down due to competition, >> > > That is a shame. I do not favor subsidizing inefficient technology, but on > the other hand we need to reduce carbon emissions. Nukes are better than > natural gas for that reason. Perhaps a carbon tax would make these plants > more competitive. That is a subsidy too, but it is more neutral or > even-handed. It would give some advantage to natural gas versus coal. A > subsidy for old nuke plants only gives the nukes an advantage, with no > advantage to gas versus coal. > > - Jed > >
