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Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
George,
I have to disagree. The amount of radioactive waste that is building up in holding pens is getting bigger everyday. We need to look at the fact that this material needs watching for thousands of years or we need a better way of safely disposing of it. (quite frankly, I would think that grinding it up, mixing it with the tailings of uranium mining and sticking it back down in the hole it came from would work better than what we are currently doing.) The breeder reactors that France is so fond of are another source of fear in many repsects. The fact that they produce additional radioactive material as a product of operation and that sodium is used as the primary coolant scares me.
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I'll buy that. I think if you look at it from a perspective of the energy produced vs the waste product created it is cleaner. But Nuclear waste does take a LOT LOT longer to get rid of. How do they run nuclear reactors in closed systems such as submarines and aircraft carriers. I don't think those produce a whole lot of waste (but I could be wrong - on the whole subject really).
I think the problem, esp with the any power generation technology, is that it seems to cause some kind of harm somewhere. Coal produces smog, strip mines, and health problems for miners. Oil produces oil spills, and carbon monozide. Even Hydroelectric can be a problem if it the dam destroys and ecosystem or floods some archilogical site (or potential site). Wind? The commercial wind farms could be considered an eyesore and they might effect birds flying by. Solar may be ok. (But it might help heat up the earth too, who knows?)
I think it's easy to find problems with technological advances. Almost as easy as it is to find benefits. The issue is recognizing, or theorizing, the problems before hand and minmizing them. And weighing the benefits against the problems.