Is nuclear power a good idea?

[rich!]

My understanding, electricity generated by nuclear power is carbon neutral.

Therefore, on that measure, it is desirable.

There's a carbon-neutral way to make thousands of tonnes of concrete?

 

[kyser_soze]

There's a carbon-neutral way to make thousands of tonnes of concrete?

weltweit has a magic concrete wand.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Well, dumping it in the pacific seems pretty safe for us.

You seem to be taking my posts seriously BTW...

Sure, you say that until the zombies start swarming out of the oceans.

(and yes, I know Britain is on the Atlantic )

 

[Almor]

My understanding, electricity generated by nuclear power is carbon neutral.

Therefore, on that measure, it is desirable.

My understanding is that strip mining is not even close to carbon neutral, nor is shipping nuclear fuel halfway across the world.

The most interesting point in this thread for me is the confirmation that uranium supply cannot meet demand, I remember reading something about this in the economist a while back but they didn't go into detail and glossed over it somewhat.

Nuclear power doesn't seem that great an idea to me at this point even if the waste issue is disregarded.

 

[weltweit]

weltweit has a magic concrete wand.

I do, I mean yes .. I do

No I was quite specific in my use of words.

I said : "electricity generated by nuclear power is carbon neutral"

Which is true.

I did not say that the building of the infrastructures and stations would be carbon neutral. But whichever system is chosen it has to be built, and then unbuilt at the end of its life. And in the case of nuclear, waste has to be taken care off also.

 

[newbie]

Nuclear power doesn't seem that great an idea to me at this point even if the waste issue is disregarded.

only those with a vested interest should consider disregarding how the nuclear industry deals with waste.

 

[ViolentPanda]

My understanding, electricity generated by nuclear power is carbon neutral.

Therefore, on that measure, it is desirable.

The problem actually resides in the carbon-intensiveness of the creation of infrastructure for nuclear power stations.

 

[ViolentPanda]

only those with a vested interest should consider disregarding how the nuclear industry deals with waste.

Or doesn't deal with it, as the case may be.

 

[elbows]

Newnight tonight have a piece about the low chance of the next gen of nuclear power stations being delivered on time:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8379274.stm

Contains fun detail about how the builders follow their instincts to botch which has resulted in many delays to the Finnish reactor currently being built.

 

[elbows]

Certainly not a good news week for nuclear:

Designs for new UK nuclear reactors are unsafe, claims watchdog

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/27/nuclear-power-reactor-design

The HSE's public report expresses "significant concerns" about the lack of separation between the safety protection and control systems on the EPR reactor design promoted by Areva and EDF of France. The safety body says another part of the reactor is "not entirely in alignment with international good practice".