Global warming

[David Horn]

(02-14-2017, 12:21 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(11-26-2016, 09:04 AM)David Horn Wrote: Other than Fukushima, which was a natural disaster that would have been bad regardless, and Chernobyl, which was the failure of a plant extremely outdated decades before it crashed, show me any deaths related to nuclear power.  Compare that to all the fossil fuel options.  And please, don't ring in with your overly optimistic expectations for renewables.  They may get there, but not soon. Assume the same numbers the expert proponents assume: 50 years.

The barriers to getting there have been all political, and we just got another one installed. We would have been there by now otherwise. But now it will take some time. How "soon" may depend on the definition of both "soon" and "getting there."

I am willing to be somewhat open-minded about nuclear power, since some innovators are developing systems that use the waste for fuel and are safer from meltdowns. Still, nuclear power is only at best a bridge fuel, like natural gas, because it too is non-renewable in the long-run. And it will take a while to bring these new kinds of plants on-line; so certainly at best it can only keep up with the rapid pace at which solar and wind are coming online these days.

And some older Fukushima-style nukes could be closed down in the meantime, especially if another accident happens. An earthquake in CA could be devastating, since Fukushima-type plants still exist here. And some exist near NY too.

Germany is the poster child for trying to get to renewables with all due speed, while rejecting nuclear power.  What they got for a bridge was a mix of fossil fuels, because renewables are not ready to provide baseload ... not yet, if ever.  So another option needs to be in the mix, and nuclear, handled well, is the current best choice.  If it ever gets through the development cycle, fusion is the obvious choice all around: thousands of years of power from currently available sources.  But fusion isn't here yet, and fossil fuels need to go quickly and totally. 

It's possible that a nationwide smart grid might obviate the intermittency problem, making renewables truly capable.  That's a $Trillion program that's not likely to come on line soon, either. 

So those are your choices.  Wishful thinking is not an option.