Will Solar energy replace traditional energy sources by 2023?
- Thread starter Samtemdo8_v1legacy
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China is just big and has a huge population. That doesn't make it world leader in nearly everything. And while they are the main producer and exporter of specifically solar panels (they don't have such a position with most other renewables), they got there only by being cheaper based on wages, environmental standards, ressorce availability and gouvernment price dumping, not for technological leadership.Agema said:
This site [http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/fuel-recycling/processing-of-used-nuclear-fuel.aspx] and pages on it have breakdowns on the maths, mass, reprocessing capacity versus generated spent fuel, etc. It's a pro-nuke lobby group, so know that bias going in.Drathnoxis said:
Though, there's one page I'd divert your attention to in particular, this one [https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/nuclear-terrorism/reprocessing-nuclear-waste#2]. Because, it corroborates a lot of the info on the previous link, but it's from an anti- nuke group and is a pretty good example of bad science, shady logic, and rhetorical games used to execute a political goal, typically associated with pro-business voices.
Notice on that page they don't actually define the waste classifications? That's because low-level waste [https://www.nrc.gov/waste/low-level-waste.html] is exactly what it says on the tin. Materials including, contaminated by, or exposed to, trace amounts of short-lived (less than five years) isotopes or neutron radiation. A mop used in a nuclear power plant is a low-level waste item.
The letter classification is for materials containing different ratios of these isotopes; class-C LLW is hot, but it's hot for a few years then it can be disposed in a regular-ass landfill or hazmat site. Class-A is barely above background if it's above background at all, and so broad and expansive special dispensation has to be granted to certain consumer products to allow for landfill disposal, like glow in the dark wristwatches, brazil nuts, and bananas.
Yup, bananas [https://www.wired.com/2011/10/ff-radioactivecargo/]. Bananas are radioactive [https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15288975]. Bananas are a pain in the ass for customs agents [https://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/02/16/going-bananas-over-radiation/]. One of the more comical moments in the post-9/11 terror panic, was the idea banana shipments could be used to smuggle dirty bombs into the US [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/03/12/the-unthinkable-2].
This classification going up is actually a good thing, because it means the really dangerous shit is being captured and sequestered. High-level waste [https://www.nrc.gov/waste/high-level-waste.html] is the dangerous shit; the medium-lived and long-lived isotopes like Strontium-90, Cesium-137, Cesium-135, Iodine-129. When you hear talk about how radioactive waste has to be put in special barrels and stored deep underground for centuries, this is what speakers are talking about, not goddamn LLW.
Here's where that article passes from the merely shady, to straight-up lies. Without capture and sequestration of medium- and long-lived radioisotopes, spent fuel is high-level waste and the entire mass has to be stored and disposed as such.
The biggest issue royally screwing this up in the US is that Nuclear power plants in the US are privately owned.Eacaraxe said:
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-t-z/usa-nuclear-power-policy.aspx
Just as investors are often screwing up our video games in the name of "profit" they are doing the same, if not worse, in regards to nuclear energy in the US. They are the reason why the NRC and EPA have been paid to be incompetent here as it has never been about providing a better service or what is best for our future, people or country, it is about how they can increase profits for investors right now and damn the consequences. It is easier for them to take over regulatory agencies and buy them off to ignore the problems and shift all burdens to tax payers while funneling all profits to the private investors.
Don't expect this to improve as long as this remains to be the case. For nuclear in the US, it is all about cutting as many corners as possible and trying to make someone else pay to clean it up later while they cash grab as much as they can in the meantime by whatever means possible. The way they handle their business is why they cannot be trusted to do this right.