The year before I moved to Oregon (1988), they closed down the Hanford nuclear installations because it was so old it was dangerous. see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford After I moved to Portland, another installation just north of PDX was closed down for the same reason. Apparently about 20 years is the usable lifespan of a nuclear reactor. Most people who live in the area won't eat fish that come out of the Columbia River because of nuclear contamination of the water. There is also a fear that there is contamination of the water table. Of course there is also the urban legend about radioactive cats at the Hanford site. But who knows about that? I do know that several European countries (France being among these) use more modern nuclear plants for their power, but I don't know what the safety records show on those. They've got to be better than ours, a big percentage of which were built in the 40s and 50s.
From: [email protected]: [email protected]: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:42:44 -0400Subject: RE: [ot_caving] Texas solar power >Texas is the national leader in wind power and we have the potential to >meet the rest of our energy needs with solar power. In fact, if we put solar >panels on an area thirty miles by thirty miles in west Texas, we could .generate enough electricity to power the entire state at prices competitive .with new nuclear plants! Hmm. Read that again, slowly. "...at prices competitive.with _new nuclear plants_! Ever wondered why you haven't seen any new nuclear plants in the last 30 years? Aside from the waste containment issue, they're really, really expensive to build (more so than new oil refineries!), and that cost has to be amortized in the retail price of the 'product'...So yeah, solar probably IS competitive with new nuclear; but neither is an affordable or near-term solution. Don't get me wrong -- I'm all for encouraging, subsidizing, incentivizing every possible form of sustainable energy. But the graph of the onset of renewable energy does not offset the graph of post-peak-oil energy. We've started this project way too late with way too little, and are in for some tough times ahead. Alex --------------------------------------------------------------------- Give this to a friend: [email protected] To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
