Zell, Chris wrote:
We haven't had any new nuclear power plants built in many years.
Since any notion of NIMBYism is to be rejected ( despite
overwhelming political evidence that it is real)
Nuclear power plants have been rejected by power companies, not
citizens. Citizens do not like them either but that never stopped the
power companies from building them in the past. The power companies
like to blame the situation on environmentalists but that is nonsense.
, the clear answer is THAT URANIUM HAS PEAKED!
Why build nuclear power plants when we know that uranium is running
out? Surely, the situation is no different than the fact that the US
hasn't built a new
refinery since 1976 - Obviously, everyone knew - 30 YEARS AGO - that
we were running out of oil and refineries were a waste of time.
I realize this is a joke, but the analogy is flawed.. A nuclear power
plant is to uranium as automobiles are to oil. We have built plenty
of automobiles in the last 20 years, but they were mainly
replacements. The total it has not increased much. So the number have
been stable just as the number of nuclear power plants is stable.
Comparing nuclear power to oil, and oil well with the like a uranium
mine, and an oil refinery would be equivalent to the uranium fuel rod
production plant. The US has not increased the number of mines
because uranium is much more plentiful and cheaper to mine in Canada
and Australia, and we have not increased the number of fuel rod
production plants because the number of uranium reactors has not
increased. The number of reactors have not increased because of the
power companies do not want them because they are far too expensive
and dangerous.
We can get virtually unlimited amounts of uranium from Canada and
Australia. If the same were true of oil -- if friendly, reliable,
democratic nations such as Canada and Australia could supply all of
our needs indefinitely, then they would be no peak oil crisis and no
political problems with Al Qaeda. (There might still be a problem
with global warming.)
What are Pennsylvania and Montana thinking, when they to spend billions for
this? Those estimates of centuries worth of coal aren't to be taken
seriously.
No one has suggested that coal has peaked. That's absurd. An no
serious oil expert has claimed there are centuries of oil left in the ground.
- Jed
