"Put the brakes" on nuclear power plants: Lieberman

[deminks]

Source: Reuters

The United States should "put the brakes on" new nuclear power plants until fully understanding what happened to the earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors in Japan, the chairman of the U.S. Senate's homeland security panel said on Sunday.

Engineers in Japan tried on Sunday to avert a meltdown at three nuclear reactors following Friday's huge earthquake by pumping in cooling seawater after authorities said they assumed that some damage had already occurred.

"I don't want to stop the building of nuclear power plants," independent Senator Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said on the CBS program "Face the Nation."

"But I think we've got to kind of quietly put, quickly put the brakes on until we can absorb what has happened in Japan as a result of the earthquake and the tsunami and then see what more, if anything, we can demand of the new power plants that are coming on line," Lieberman added.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/13/us-nuclear-usa-idUSTRE72C2UW20110313

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If only they would use the same gusto and logic with fracking, deep water oil drilling, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Notice the weasel words, "I don't want to stop building..." Do you think he checked with somebody first?

Not to worry, though. The 400 will tell us that all will be well./sarcasm off.

[ixion]

1. Apparently LIEberman hasn't been bribed, er I mean, 'lobbied' sufficiently yet

He'll change his tune as soon as the money is right. :grr:

[Xipe Totec]

3. He represents the insurance companies, which just got hammered

to the tune of $35 Billion US.

[Kingofalldems]

8. +1

[snappyturtle]

4. Yep. He's trolling to test the waters. imho nt

[DefenseLawyer]

2. Let's ask a loser with no credibility on any issue what he thinks.

Thanks Joe.

[golfguru]

5. If the worst earthquake in history fails to kill a single person

due to nuclear power plant demise in Japan, then it is rational and logical
to say that nuclear power is SAFER than coal mining, deep water oil drilling,
refineries which routinely have lethal fires, and handling of natural gas
under pressure. Thousand times more people have died from household natural gas explosions
than all of the nuclear accidents combined with the exception of Chernobyl which was
entirely due to careless maintenance by the Soviet communist regime.

Nothing is safe in life, not even riding horses or bicycles. But over the last 60 years
nuclear power has the least fatalities and therefor safer than other power sources. Wind
and solar are certainly safer but will take a very long time to produce enough power.
Then consider all the lung diseases attributed to burning of fossil fuels and nuclear
has the clear advantage for several decades to come.

[diane in sf]

9. efficency and wind are much better and cheaper than nuclear, which has a trail of

cancer casualties everywhere it's used and everywhere the ore is mined.

[msongs]

11. those people in Chernobyly will be glad you think they are not fatalities and it does NOT

matter that the soviets had careless maintenance. when you're dead from radiation, you're as dead as from any other cause

[Gregorian]

12. If I walk along the edge of this cliff, and don't fall off, it's just as safe as the sidewalk.

We have ways of generating power without having to have any risks. None. Not to mention the lack of any waste products.

It's not even an argument. And besides, who knows how close we came to cataclysmic results in Japan? A different mode of movement? A longer duration? A flaw in construction? A bigger quake? Any number of things could have resulted in the release of radiation.

I like my lights and refrigerator and tv. But I can't justify them if it means having a looming wasteland.

[stuart68]

18. Generatign power wit NO risk ? do tell...

[stuart68]

19. This will be a non-issue. I read the plants were built by GE

Just liek the first drilling permits going to BP, if you are well connected, you will have no problems. GE is very well connected...

[Gregorian]

21. Do tell? It's not a secret. Photovoltaics.

I'd add wind except there are birds that post on this forum. But then hydroelectric isn't exactly benign in terms of what happens when a river is dammed. Tidal, geothermal. These all have essentially no threat.

[stuart68]

23. so there are no hazardous materials produced

in the manufacture of photovoltaics ? Hardly. Wind is in the same category with the necessity of rare earth minerals oming from China (if you think manufacturign iPads is dangerous to workers, what do you think happens in the mines in China ???).

Everything has its hazards, some more obvious than others.

[Gregorian]

28. I've spent a lifetime on this subject.

Machine tool technology degree, manufacturing, and a mechanical engineer. I grew up and worked in Silicon valley. And hung out in the homebrew club with Wozniak. I just wanted to post that I do understand. I watch and wonder just what people think. And I don't mean you. I respect people who see the entire picture. It's really a dilemma. One that hinges on our numbers. We're really backed into a corner now. First we deforested for steam, then we deforested for lumber, and now I have to wonder what's next. I laid in bed last night thinking about all of the copper we are going to need.

I remember the days when Applied Materials just dumped their chemicals. The hydrofluoric acid my dad used to tell me about when he came home at night.

Sometimes I think this is just one big Kamikaze run. We're trading off survival for knowledge. I used to talk with my dad at night about the pollution that was caused by the semiconductor business, but how in the long run we'd have an internet. Now that we're here, I have to think it was worth it. Assange pulling the rug out from under the corporate sympathetic media, and places like this forum. And even the ability to see the world without using petroleum to get there.

I don't know. That's always my bottom line, whether religion or even a lot of engineering. I used to joke that I should call my company Accidental Engineering. :)

Side by side, I'll take photovoltaics over nuclear. I've tried to get more information on the Nanosolar process, and have had little luck. It appears to be rather benign. The bottom line is nuclear has the potential to make the planet unlivable in one burst. Other forms of production are not what I would call natural processes either. But they don't have the capacity to run wild, and poison vast areas of the planet.

[Zoeisright]

22. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!

Yeah, I can just see the carnage produced when a solar panel or windmill is hit with an earthquake. Oh NOES!! It's going to kill thousands or millions of people in horrific ways decades from now!

Wait. That's what happens with accidents in nuke plants.

God, grow up.

[stuart68]

24. Maybe if you put a little thought into it, you would see problem.

How many people have been killed by nuclear power ? How many killed in mining the rare earth minerals required for wind turbines and what about the hazardous waste produced in the manufacture of solar panels ?

something like 18 people per day die in industrial accidents. How many per day die in nuclear accidents ?

Maybe a little more thought before being dismissive.

[Peace Patriot]

17. The worst earthquake in history may not be over...

"Japan Agency Says 70 Percent Chance New Major Quake in Next Three Days."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4768612

And the meltdowns in Japan are not over. Two plants are in meltdown, all safety mechanisms failed with the last resort measure of sea water pumping now being used. And four others are in trouble.

The level of catastrophe that could occur in a worst case scenario--and "worst case" has by no means been averted in Japan, as yet--is so great that no such risk ever should have been taken. At this point, any further major complication--a third plant melting down, another earthquake, a major miscalculation in the very dicey sea water operations (with valves and gauges already malfunctioning)--and Japan could be turned into a waste land. You're saying this is "safer" than other forms of energy? That is not so. No other form of energy could wipe Japan off the map, with the potential of poisoning large swaths of the Pacific Ocean and, with multiple failures of containment, even the potential harming or eliminating life across the earth.

You are making a false comparison--a life for a life, thus far. A 9.0 earthquake and tsunami may be rare, but when they DO occur, the consequences, with nuclear fuel use, are potentially so great that the lives of tens of thousands and possibly millions, and the impacts on other life forms and ecosystems, must be weighed into the balance, in deciding to use this technology.

Japan is noted for being the best country in the world on earthquake and tsunami preparedness and on the safety of their nuke plants. Yet their nuke plants' safety systems have catastrophically failed, in these circumstances, and Japan's fate and the fate of the Pacific Ocean and Pacific Rim countries is right now resting on last resort measures to stop on-going meltdowns and prevent others. At least six nuclear plants have failed or failing cooling systems!

You might as well be saying that guns are safe because, hey, Gabrielle Giffords survived a bullet in head, didn't she?

The gun has been fired. And we are waiting to see if the people of Japan and others at risk are going to survive this one, by the skin of our teeth. This is not safety. This is playing with guns. There is no comparison to other energy sources, because the damage, if it occurs, can be so catastrophic and so long lasting.

[golfguru]

27. So long as the 4" thick outside containment vessel holds

there will be no massive radiation dispersed.
At TMI, the outside containment vessel never broke which
is the reason there was no massive radiation fallout.

[jpak]

6. Weasel

asshole

yup

[hunter]

7. "Pace of polar ice melt ‘accelerating rapidly’: study"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4762962&mesg_id=4762962

Sucks to be us.

[Liberal Veteran]

10. Glad he's not a democrat.

He makes me physically ill every time he opens his mouth.

[lib2DaBone]

13. Anything Joe Liebereman would tell me.. I would RUN the opposite direction...

[DeSwiss]

14. Fucking corrupt bastard.

K&R

[underpants]

15. Wow Joe sucks at being a suck

I have nothing further

[WheelWalker]

16. Re: broken clock doctrine. nt

[bemildred]

20. Retire now Joe, why wait?

Your family misses you.

[goforit]

25. LOL!!! Running scared Joe!! After decades of promoting it

A little late asshole!!!

[Overseas]

26. I want us to put breaks on nuclear power too.

Would prefer millions of jobs rebuilding our infrastructure with conservation technologies, expanding mass transit, solar and wind power, and other ways to save enough oil to make up for what nukes could supply.

[Taverner]

29. Broken clock, right twice a day

[Aerows]

30. Lieberman is an idiot - nothing else to say n/t

[Green_Lantern]

31. Lieberman is wrong...nuclear energy is better than coal burning..

The explosions at these plants are being caused by hydrogen released from metal rods breaking down.

That could happen with any metal getting hot. Let's ban all heating of metal :sarcasm:

[Arugula Latte]

32. Joe, I suggest you fly to Fukushima immediately and do an up-close-and-personal inspection

You know, we need a better understanding and all ...

Remember not to wear one of those funny protective suits -- we all know they're not good for photo ops!

[RedCloud]

33. How Gore ever picked this clown is beyond me.

[elias49]

34. In a word: Israel

sad to say.