Dear Fil,
Typical 'permanent' and consolidated storage such as the Yucca Mt Proposal do not get built and used because no one wants this in their backyard. We can all bet that even if the political base of the final location is weak, there will be strong opposition--an injustice in one part of the world has the capacity to resonate throughout the entire globe, says Habermas!
Furthermore, I don't think insofar as nuclear wastes are concerned, applying the kind of cost-benefit analysis (i.e., harvesting residual energy by decay) is even the way to think about this issue. After all, energy gained through radioactive decay is simply not the same as energy gained from burning organic fuel: the psychology of perception is vastly different. Just like recycling our waste-water under water conservation policies in any arid locale, the first battle has to be a psychological; and this entails a deontological battle of conviction over simple utilitarianism. Similar logic applies to medical isotopes.
I agree with the previous participant's comment that to rely on nuclear energy in view of rising prices of fossil fuels is an extremely short term measure that has large future unknowable and unknown repercussions. It looks like it is the market that is driving us to nuclear energy, and this drive is usually and erroneously--perhaps deceptively--couched in arguments of energy shortage. If we as a civilization is driven about by the things we have designed for the allocation of resources, then we have indeed lost control and all talk of design and the designer is no longer valid or relevant.
Finally, if we look at where are the places where nuclear plants are being proposed, the correlation between rocketing population growth and a seeming consensus to build them are quite telling. As a species, are we contend to allow the paradox of rising populations diminish the probability of populations down the road? A paradox indeed--and a frightening one. This is one technology that we know how to build and harness, but we have no good theory or practice of containment. I always thought we would have by now invented robots and improvisatory measures to fight nuclear fires. The helicopters dumping water and boric acid fire-fighting tell me that we don't yet have very accountable measures in place. Until we have accountable measures, it is the responsibility of a designing species to forestall any further development of something that is patently harmful and unknowable with long lasting undesirable consequences.
Jeffrey Chan
> Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:27:02 -0400
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Status of "design" re Japanese nuclear crisis? Reply to Norman - a Fukushima solution by Germany
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> It depends on the technology used.
> For instance, IF the Yucca Mountain repository ever gets built & used, the
> stored waste will generate enough heat to keep the ambient temperature at
> around 200C. You can boil water with that kind of heat. Which you can use
> to run turbines that generate electricity. And that heat source will be
> available for thousands of years. Wouldn't it be good to find a use for
> that nuclear waste?
> Also, if we used thorium based reactors, then we wouldn't get as much waste,
> and much of the nuclear byproduct would be highly-valued "medical isotopes."
>
> That said, I would not advocate to "depend on Nuclear energy for hundreds of
> years." It's a temporary measure, and, I think, a very good one.
>
> See my blog posting:
> http://filsalustri.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/rethinking-nuclear/
>
> Cheers.
> Fil
>
> On 18 March 2011 13:27, Rob Curedale <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I wonder how many spent fuel rods we will have to dispose of if we depend
> > on
> > Nuclear energy for hundreds of years. It seems like lazy short term
> > thinking
> > again.
> >
> > Rob Curedale
> >
> > .....................................................................
> >
> > email: [log in to unmask]
> > url: www.curedale.com
> > address: PO Box 1153 Topanga CA 90290 USA
> > skype: rob.curedale
> > profile: http://tiny.cc/92p9t
> > twitter: @designresearch
> >
> > .....................................................................
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
> Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
> Ryerson University
> 350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
> M5B 2K3, Canada
> Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
> Fax: 416/979-5265
> Email: [log in to unmask]
> http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
|