[geeks] Global warming, was Mr Bill?

[Sandwich Maker]

" From: Sridhar Ayengar <ploopster at gmail.com>
" 
" wa2egp at att.net wrote:
" > Fossil fuels (and nuclear) are not sustainable.  
" 
" Nuclear is sustainable.  Hydrogen fusion power fits the definition of 
" "nuclear power".
" 
" Hell, fission is sustainable enough for most purposes.  It's far more 
" fuel-efficient than fossil-fuels.

not the way we've been using it.  i've heard numbers like 1% - 3% fuel
consumption before the rods have to be r&r.  this is like filling your
car's tank, driving a few miles, then paying to have it drained,
reprocessed or safely disposed of, and filling up again.

i'm in the camp that believes that there is -no- safe disposal for the
high-level radioactive waste of un-reprocessed 'spent' fuel rods.

there's a ton of research into more-efficient designs, but it's all
theoretical at this point.  existing - and approved - designs are
first-generation.  in automotive terms, think curved-dash oldsmobile -
or rather, what a cdo would look like after nhtsa got through with it.

some of the more efficient designs allow near-total utilization of
radioactives in the fuel, outputting only lead.  another number i've
heard is that with these reactors we have enough fissionable material
already mined and stockpiled to power our entire grid for the next 5
centuries.

another possible avenue is reactors that crack water into hydrogen
[and oxygen] instead of producting electricity.  there are big
problems with sending h2 through the natural gas pipeline network -
h2-scale porosity and hydrogen embrittlement, for two - but reactors
of this type could be used to gasify coal or tar sands, etc.  as long
as fossil reserves last, anyways.

a separate argument is whether we should let the chimpanzees who
operate our fossil-fueled power plants get their hands on more nukes.
________________________________________________________________________
Andrew Hay                                  the genius nature
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