Reply #78: smelly plants?

[Mike Briggs]

"Irrespective of these wise folks, NIMBY is a powerful argument against nuclear power, but you are completely niave when you assume that it will NOT be an issue in biodiesel, particularly when the program - if it manages to be sustainable in some areas - goes industrial. To wit, it will involve the building of tens of thousands of rather smelly plants. "

Uh, no. The process we're designing will actually drastically reduce the smell from existing waste streams (animal or human).

"Frankly if people did not have knee jerk terrror reactions (based wholly on ignorance) to the word "nuclear," anti-nuclear NIMBY would disappear and we could probably see the public on other plants like the one near oyster creek."

But, the reality is that people DO have knee jerk reactions to it, and no amount of complaining is going to change that. Just as people such as yourself have knee-jerk reactions to the word "diesel", assuming all diesels are noxious, polluting machines. Modern diesels can be considerably cleaner than the cleanest gasoline vehicles on the road. Diesels normally emit far less hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions than diesels, but more NOx and particulates. New CRT particulate traps reduce particulate emissions down to around the cleanest gasoline vehicles. NOx adsorbing catalysts, which require ultra low sulfur fuel (either biodiesel or the ULSD that will be mandated in the US in 2006) can eliminate roughly 95% of NOx emissions from diesel vehicles. With those two aftertreatment technologies, diesel vehicles can be cleaner than any other liquid fueled vehicle on the road - and cleaner than CNG vehicles as well.

Getting back to nuclear power - I'm primarily a nuclear physicist, and know that nuclear power is safe. However, there will always be the issue of terrorism, which can make nuclear power far more dangerous. Breeder reactor technology has not reached the stage of being fully successful, so there remains the issue of leftover plutonium - and the leaves the issue of it being potentially sold to, or stolen by terrorists. That's the reality. Modern nuclear reactors are incredibly safe - but creating plutonium is always inherently unsafe due to the issue of terrorists. Add to that the environmental disaster from mining uranium, and nuclear power is not nearly the panacea you are presenting it to be.