# Nuclear Power Obstructionism **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2009, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846 "2009-01-18T10:21:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846/21 "2009-01-18T23:18:47Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Maybe. > How many **currently operating** commercial pebble bed reactors are there? I think you misunderstand the concept of the word modern and new when applied to the word nuclear reactor. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846/22 "2009-01-18T23:28:45Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I think you misunderstand the concept of the word modern and new when applied to the word nuclear reactor. I never used either word in any of my posts. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846/23 "2009-01-18T23:41:46Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > So you say. > As has been done _ad infinitum_ in GD, there are serious issues with Nukes, not the least of which is waste management. Nuke power may be relatively safe as measured by deaths / MWH generated, but their failure modes have the potential to be spectacularly catastrophic and expensive. So we should abandon aircraft, transition everyone to cars, and suck up all of the increased deaths in road accidents. Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846/24 "2009-01-18T23:51:49Z")
Can we actually get back to the cost involved in delays? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846/25 "2009-01-19T00:16:34Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > So we should abandon aircraft, transition everyone to cars, and suck up all of the increased deaths in road accidents. Makes sense. No, but as you note, the public’s concept of perceived risk can’t be ignored. Do you think people would fly if 2,000 737s crashed, killing everyone on board, in the US every year? The public is willing to accept a diffused risk, even if the actual aggregate risk is higher than a competing technology. Technologies that have the potential to cause mass casualties need to be much, much safer than the technologies they are attempting to displace. That said, my opposition to Nuke power is more focused on the waste disposal, proliferation, and deliberate attack than it is on operations. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846/26 "2009-01-19T00:23:55Z")
TVA will start up a new nuke plant in 2013. Prior to that the last new plant to start was in 96. > **[Watts Bar Nuclear Plant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Bar_Nuclear_Generating_Station)** > > The Watts Bar Nuclear Plant is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) nuclear reactor pair used for electric power generation. It is located on a 1,770-acre (7.2 km²) site in Rhea County, Tennessee, near Spring City, between the cities of Chattanooga and Knoxville. Watts Bar supplies enough electricity for about 1,200,000 households in the Tennessee Valley. > The plant, construction of which began in 1973, has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactor units: Unit 1, completed in 1996, and Unit 2, com... ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846/27 "2009-01-19T01:08:04Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Ughh! > > If it last forever, it aint radioactive forever! Never the twain shall meet. Far,far beyond the lifetime of our species qualifies as forever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-power-obstructionism/481846.md?page=1)