Reply #23: Nuclear waste is not a big problem, nothing has changed.

[hunter]

There you go, hows that for an answer?

Nuclear waste is a problem to some people, mostly because it just sits there doing nothing. People would rather make money off it by making it do something, or make political hay out of it by screaming about how dangerous it is.

But the cooling ponds the used fuel rods are first put into are boring. The dry casks they next put these used fuel rods in are boring too.

Here's some dry casks:



It's hard to imagine what a terrorist might do with them. Any firepower that could damage those would have much greater terrorist effect elsewhere.

Unlike nuclear waste, coal waste is a big problem. Here's a satellite image of a coal mine feeding a power plant west of Farmington New Mexico. It's a big scar on the land. The roads are dark from spilled coal. You can follow the roads up to the neighboring coal mines.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=farmington+%22New+Mexico%22&ll=36.801863,-108.414974&spn=0.089446,0.206131&t=h&hl=en

I remember the sky in New Mexico was mostly clear but now it's mostly not. A blue haze hangs over things, and you can smell it.

By the way, a lot of the toxic waste from coal has a half-life of forever.

It is entirely disingenuous to complain about nuclear power if you are not screaming bloody murder about coal.

The Bush Administration is all about making maximum profits from coal and oil. They probably consider nuclear power an "alternative energy" which means they won't really support it until they've squeezed the greatest profit out of oil and coal they can.