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Topic: The upcoming energy crisis. (Read 30678 times)
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GeomanNL
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I love YaBB 1G - SP1!
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The worst thing a reactor can do is spew out radiation.
In here, http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=248 it says: "Had the melted reactor core collapsed into the small lake of water underneath it, it would have been the equivalent of dropping a nuclear bomb."
Anyway, that didn't happen  But at long range, the effects of a nuclear meltdown are much more significant than that of a single bomb, because a reactor can release much more radiation. Perhaps I'm slightly more serious about this, cause there was a temporary ban on certain vegetables in the Netherlands, following that disaster. And that is about 1,000 miles away.
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« Last Edit: March 12, 2006, 10:46:22 pm by GeomanNL »
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Met2002
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"We Vux do not share this range of motion!"
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See i was right  remember the bomb at japans capital durring WW2? *i think* similar effect execpt without the huge awsome nucler explosion
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JonoPorter
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Don't mess with the US.
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Anyway, that didn't happen But at long range, the effects of a nuclear meltdown are much more significant than that of a single bomb, because a reactor can release much more radiation. Perhaps I'm slightly more serious about this, cause there was a temporary ban on certain vegetables in the Netherlands, following that disaster. And that is about 1,000 miles away.
See i was right remember the bomb at japans capital durring WW2? *i think* similar effect execpt without the huge awsome nucler explosion |
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« Last Edit: March 13, 2006, 07:49:21 am by BioSlayer »
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Deus Siddis
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There are fail safes you can build into reactors to keep them from having problems. From what I understand, the problems errupt when you don't use these fail safes, something mechanical obstructs them, or the reactor system gets damaged somehow.
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JonoPorter
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Don't mess with the US.
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Kyoto was Japan's capital and the emperor's residence from 794 until 1868. In 1868 the emperor moved to Edo which was renamed to Tokyo making it the capital city.
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Draxas
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Huh. I thought it still was the seat of government (what with the Emperor being a ceremonial position now) even today, though. Very well, I stand corrected.
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Death 999
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We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
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Slow-neutron reactors are incapable of using U-238 or Pu-239, and therefore cannot draw energy from dividing these energy-rich atoms. This is very inefficient. Almost all of our reactors are slow-neutron reactors.
Since they only run on U-235, they require highly-enriched U-235 fuel, which is also suitable for making nuclear weapons.
They leave very long-lived nuclear waste, with half-lives of tens of thousands years.
Fast-neutron reactors use all of the above-mentioned isotopes -- U-235, U-238, and Pu-239. This requires decent purification only, no enrichment. It can make nuclear fuel out of sufficiently heavy elements.
The nuclear waste left by fast-neutron reactors is very short-lived, 1000 years max and mostly much shorter.
So far, sounds like Fast-neutron reactors (FNR) are just the bees knees, right?
Well, there are down-sides.
1) FNR can be used to generate Plutonium, which can be separated out and used to make nuclear weapons much more easily than Uranium can be separated out and used to make nuclear weapons.
mitigation: Plutonium-based weapons are much harder to make than Uranium weapons, after you get the material
2) FNR use liquid metal coolants, which have a not so hot safety record.
mitigation: there is a lot of room for improvement in the handling of these.
mitigation 2: when the liquid metal spills, it is at least not radioactive.
So, if the question of nuclear power is just radioactive waste and supply problems, FNR is to a great extent an answer. If it is an issue of security, it is partially an answer (you don't need to have enriched Uranium all over the place) but also a problem (each one is potentially a plutonium factory).
In the mid-range run, I think that'll be the answer. After that, we may have affordable fusion.
(edited to correct a typo which changed the nuclear physics)
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« Last Edit: March 23, 2006, 05:52:27 pm by Death 999 »
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XR4-IT
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Nuclear power will last a long time yet especially if proliferation bans are lifted. Some nations are already using things like Ethanol(We could just drain the Orz ) and Hydrogen. Solar is good because the sun will last as long as life on earth dose if not longer. My roommate and I are currently working on making Ethanol more efficient.
There are lots of replacement fuels that are available; they are just more expensive to produce right now. If we can build a sufficient info structure now to produce these replacement fuels the expense by the time the oil runs out in about 50 or so years at current rate of uses and growth of uses.
Thankfully we already have the technology to make plastic once we run out of oil.
There is also the idea out to build methane farms, but that seems like it would be a rather smelly operation . It would be worth it though if it produced a good amount of fuel
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Death 999
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We did. You did. Yes we can. No.
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Hydrogen is just energy storage... not a source. If you're going off of ethanol farms, remember to compare it with other solar-based energy sources in full-cycle efficiency. How much energy must be spent to keep the farm running?
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Deus Siddis
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"Oh wait, someone mentioned Zero Point Energy, dangit...What other futuristic method can I think up..."
You could bring up Dark Energy, no one has mentioned that yet. . .oh wait. . .
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*gulp* like as in someone screws up in a nucler plant and destroys 25% of america then we get piss say its Europe's then world war 3 begins we kill all the Europens then everyone else trys to kill us we kill them... then i dunno what happens after that 
