US to power up global interest in nuclear energy - AFP

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

US to power up global interest in nuclear energy

34 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States sought to boost nuclear
power in the global energy mix Monday, by hosting China, France,
Japan and Russia at the first meeting of the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership.

President George W. Bush has pledged 250 million dollars for 2007
to promote nuclear energy as an alternative to carbon-burning
electrical plants, which emit so-called greenhouse gases that
scientists have blamed for climate change.

But another key goal is controlling distribution of nuclear power
technology and materials to prevent proliferation of nuclear
weapons.

"An important objective for our meeting today will be to lay out
the next steps of the partnership," US Energy Secretary Samuel
Bodman said as he opened the GNEP meeting.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/usenergynucleargneppolitics_070522035308

[Eric J in MN]

1. More Chernobyls.

More nuclear waste we don't have a place for.

[XemaSab]

2. Coal is destroying the WHOLE PLANET.

Chernobyl resulted in the cancer deaths of maybe 10,000 people, and the creation of a really big wildlife refuge in the middle of the Ukraine that will be protected in perpetuity.

Coal's heath costs are hidden. How many people will die of cancer caused by mercury? It's unknown. What about air pollution, nitrates, sulfates, particulates... the health costs of mining the stuff?

I'm not pro-nuke, but I'm pro SOMETHING, and right now we're not doing squat.

(Oh, and on edit: Chernobyl was the worst case scenario. Coal damages are as designed... they're the best case scenario. Think about it.)

[TheMadMonk]

5. Note even close mate.

Chernobyl's total deaths since 1986 are less than an average month's death toll in the world's mines.

And premature deaths from conventional pollution is estimated to be in the tens of thousands per year worldwide.

It should be an absolute nobrainer.

As for the waste. Fast breeder reactors and tabletop sized "neutron guns" can "incinerate" nuclear waste.

Nuclear waste is no longer forever.

[Dead_Parrot]

6. It's not tens of thousands...

...it's two million.

Or, if you prefer, one person every 16 seconds: about 1,132 since Eric reminded us how bad Chernobyl was.

[Dead_Parrot]

3. More one-liners for the hard of thinking.

From the people who brought you "Clean Coal", "20% by 2020", and the DIY lobotomy kit.

[Dogmudgeon]

4. DARE to COMPARE what goes into the AIR!

Chernobyl: 10 metric tons of vaporized mixed uranium oxides and graphite; one-time event.

Coal: 10-15 metric tons of uranium and thorium as fly-ash per year for a 1 GWe generator -- continuously.

There are the equivalent of about 3000 big coal-fired power plants in the world today.


Nuclear Reactors: "Waste" can be recycled, but is not due to US law. It is stored in special facilities.

Coal: Radioactive waste is "stored" in the air.


Nuclear Materials: Decay of stored nuclear waste to background levels in 250-1000 years.

Chemical Waste from Solar Panel Manufacture: Cadmium, Mercury, Antimony, Cesium, Arsenic, etc. -- toxic forever.


Power Plant Primary Ownership:
Nuclear: Corporate.
Coal: Corporate.
Petrochemical: Corporate.
Geothermal: Corporate.
Hydrological: Corporate.
Aeolian (Wind): Corporate.
Solar electrical: Corporate.
Solar thermal: Corporate.


I'll worry about nukes later.


--p!

[phantom power]

7. This might be the only issue where I find any agreement with BushCo.

It makes my ears bleed to say that.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. How are those 250 million dollars going to be spent?

I'm worried that 'promoting' really does mean 'promoting' - ie PR, rather than, say, scientific research on waste disposal, new types of reactor, or something else actually useful.

[hunter]

9. The money is going to be recycled into campaign contributions and such...

That's what Republicans do best.

Often the tax money goes right through an empty store front without doing anything useful at all along the way.

[jpak]

10. Dick Cheney's Energy Task Force gave $12+ billion to the nuclear industry to build 6 new nukes

so far, none have been built.

Now we're going to spend $250 million to further "promote" nuclear energy - 60 years after the first commercial nuclear plant went on line???

Give me that money and I'll put up a 83 MW wind farm, a 70 MW biomass plant and 16 MW PV array.

These would supply electricity to 100,000 homes and be on-line in less than 2 years.

Money better spent.