Burn it down to 3% of its original mass and 1000x less radioactivity in fast breeder reactors, for more and safer power generation, then bury a much smaller and less radioactive amount of it (not to mention, unusable for fission weapons even with perfect enrichment) and guard it for the next 500 years.
Compared to coal pollution, the FBR consumption of spent fuel from older reactors is far, far better per megawatt in terms of danger and amount of waste produced. Even if it’s a shitty long-term solution compared to renewables, and it is, it’s still a good idea to do it to burn the existing waste fuel stocks down to something more easily contained and stored.
Then you don’t bury it. Cast the remainder into glass bricks and stack them in the middle of the desert. Somewhere in White Sands or outside Dreamland would be ideal. Secured airspace, no people for lots and lots of miles, and even if there is an earthquake, all it does is topple a pile of bricks. Big whoop. It can’t be stolen, it can’t be accidentally destroyed, it doesn’t interact in any way with ground water, and it’s there if we need it for something a hundred years down the line or so.
The significance of the earthquake sensors is intended to buttress the fact that after a plant is up and running, the company running it gets into cutting costs mode. They intend to increase profits regardless of safety. They cut training. They cut workers.They cut guards. They lie to the people and the regulators. They cut inspections.
They do it with the backing of the government inspectors that are bought off and understaffed. That is the way of the nuclear world.
It’s the way of the power industry world, or do you somehow not notice that coal mining has been the cause of infinity times as many deaths as nuclear power in the US?
Well, nothing worth responding to here. Time to mine the recent past for material.
For those who want to read a bunch of bullshit, follow the link. It’s quite amazing that even now, despite the overwhelming and irrefutable evidence, the true nuclear believer actually believes nuclear reactors are safe. And cheap. And clean.
At some point it becomes clear that there is no level of disaster that will convince them otherwise. Who wants to argue with a zealot?
Meanwhile, back in the real world:
I would quote shit, but let’s face it. The rational man already understands the issues, knows what is up.
The nuclear believer, well, it won’t matter a bit. Nothing will change their mind. Especially not facts or what is actually happening in Japan.
Of course now that the overwhelming consensus is that yes, a bad bad disaster happened, and yes, people are being effected, and yes, all the baloney about fear being the “real problem” was total horseshit, now that the press is finally starting to tell the truth, I very well may take the other side of the fence, and start slamming them for bad reporting.
Nah, they are still soft pedaling this shit. The western media barely covers the story, much less shows a single face of suffering from Japan. Of course the Japanese media is awash with interesting stories, news and real data. But don’t expect to see any of it on CNN
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PBR3GO0.htm
You give the common man the same economic benefits nuclear power has always enjoyed, people will build the hell out of solar power. Hell, just spend the same amount of money on solar as you spend on reactors and you will get more power, and more dependable energy.
Anyone here said there are no problems with nuclear power? None at all?
I’m sure Japanese media is filled to the brim with the suffering of my country’s people.
ok, so now you come with the real numbers of death. Because you know, a disaster that doesn’t kill or maim hundreds of people isn’t much of a disaster.
Has any of us nuclear moonbats said that solar shouldn’t be used?
Really?? you think that after a big earthquake those huge, flimsy, solar-panel arrays are going to sill be there working??
From the good news department, Tepco announced today
And the reactor that wasn’t even running they finally went in to take a look Workers enter containment vessel at Fukushima Daini reactor
FUKUSHIMA (Kyod) – Workers began inspections Monday inside the containment vessel of the Fukushima Daini nuclear plant’s No. 4 reactor to prepare for investigations into the impact caused by the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster, according to operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.
The Daini plant is located about 10 kilometers south of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The group of about 10 workers will check the radiation levels and other conditions inside the vessel of the reactor, which automatically halted operations after the magnitude 9.0 temblor.
It is the first time since the disaster that workers have entered reactor containment vessels at either the Daini plant or the Daiichi plant.
Note that none of the 10 reactors have had anyone enter them since March 11
The Daini plant or the Daiichi plant. That’s right, the four reactors at the “undamaged” plant have not been entered. You might think there was a problem.
Straw man argument. What was said, that you didn’t respond to was pretty straight up.
I said… It’s quite amazing that even now, despite the overwhelming and irrefutable evidence, the true nuclear believer actually believes nuclear reactors are safe. And cheap. And clean.
At some point it becomes clear that there is no level of disaster that will convince them otherwise. Who wants to argue with a zealot?
Or was it the commentary on the recent fact filled report her?
When I said the rational man already understands the issues, knows what is up.
The nuclear believer, well, it won’t matter a bit. Nothing will change their mind. Especially not facts or what is actually happening in Japan.
You see? You responded to something I didn’t say, and ignored my points. I understand, it’s the Pit, and who the fuck cares?
More fallacious argument. Pity really.
More nonsense, but hey, it’s about all there is from the “rational smart people” these days, if they bother to comment at all.
More ignorance. I guess it really is taking longer than we thought.
And to avoid multiposting, due to the extreme level of butthurt over this thread, get a fucking life and quit trying to stop the only conversation about an ongoing nuclear disaster on the entire board.
In the interest of science, truth and fighting ignorance, I will simply post a link to a real forum about Fukushima, all aspects of the disaster, and stop bothering anyone here with those pesky facts, you know, shit nobody wants to see.
Because you know, this lack of logic, intelligence and even simple reading comprehension here is depressing.
“A “melt-through”–when melted nuclear fuel leaks from the bottom of damaged reactor pressure vessels into containment vessels–is far worse than a core meltdown and is the worst possibility in a nuclear accident.”
This is a soft pedal of the story, which in the Japanese press (and others) is much more to the point, especially in regards to the horrible truth of what to do about it.
It doesn’t even talk about the spent fuel rod problem, which may be even worse, due to the sheer volume of material involved. If this disaster was in some remote location, far from the ocean or a river, covering it up for a very long time would be the first line of containing the deadly problem.
But it’s the coast of Japan. It’s officially starting to look like what nuclear scientists were saying back in March and April, that multiple reactors not only melted down, they breached containment.
It’s a devil’s bargain, they have to keep pouring water on the problem, or it gets much much worse quickly, but the contaminated water is a huge problem itself.
Elsewhere the true nuclear believers are still saying it’s like TMI and they cleaned that up no problem.