If you share my view of the threat posed by nuclear power, and with one eye cast back at Chernobyl, then I suggest you have a look at the following, as it may be of interest to you
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I'm not an expert, but there are plenty of people who are, and who really need the above mentioned fundng to develop the next method of energy production, whatever it may be. I do know, however, that I have no desire to end up dead or dying slowly from multiple cancers as a result of an accident at somewhere like Sellafield. The reality is, should such an accident occur, then that's exactly what would happen as it stands. And, as stated above, we still haven't resolved how to dispose of the after products of nuclear power generation, so not only do we have the mother of all a-bombs in the shape of the power plant, but we also have a watse problem that is both exoensive and destructive. Not my definition of an ideal solution.
Ireland does not (and never will) have fission plants. More and more of our power is being shifted over to the above three (wind power being currently focused on, as I understand it).
If goverments got their butts in gear, there are two locations on earth that receive a *solid* 6 month block of sunshine every year, and are ripe for solar power.
Additionally, setting up banks of solar cells in orbit is also viable.
The main issues? The Setting up costs. Somehow, a fission plant is cheap, but banks of solar cells aren't.
(probably from the resales of the plutonium you get out of the "reprocessing plants". Then again, if you have an accident, you can just rename the plant. Cf. Windscale Sellafield)
Solar power is not really viable at the moment. You need too much land mass to power too small of an area. As for space panels, how do they get the power to earth in a non microwave dangerous manner?
Tidal and wind suffer from the same concerns. Wind also causes massive noise which nobody wants to be near, tidal has been shown to cause environmental issues.
Nuclear is actually surprisingly safe. Waste should not be an issue, thats what space is for after all...
The issue with nucleur power is not that it 'isn't safe'.
The issue is that when there is an accident (and there are *always* accidents), the result is exponentially worse with a Fission plant than it is with anything else.
A coal plant burns down, we have smog issues for a while. A wind turbine falls over, no-one cares. A *reprocessing* plant (ie not a *power* plant) has a fire, you have an increased incidence of kids with Down syndrome in the affected areas. At *best*.
As for getting the Waste into space: how much of the energy being produced needs to be expended to get rid of the waste?
Additionally, setting up banks of solar cells in orbit is also viable.
It is? And you what, use them to power the inverted phase couplers that somehow get the excess power back down to Earth in a manner that doesn't microwave somewhere the size of a small country?
Aren't some of the main proponents of the Green cause now actually promoting nuclear power as the least enviromentally damaging and most sustainable form of power generation?
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Solar
Wind
Tidal
Ireland does not (and never will) have fission plants. More and more of our power is being shifted over to the above three (wind power being currently focused on, as I understand it).
If goverments got their butts in gear, there are two locations on earth that receive a *solid* 6 month block of sunshine every year, and are ripe for solar power.
Additionally, setting up banks of solar cells in orbit is also viable.
The main issues? The Setting up costs. Somehow, a fission plant is cheap, but banks of solar cells aren't.
(probably from the resales of the plutonium you get out of the "reprocessing plants". Then again, if you have an accident, you can just rename the plant. Cf. Windscale Sellafield)
Reply
Tidal and wind suffer from the same concerns. Wind also causes massive noise which nobody wants to be near, tidal has been shown to cause environmental issues.
Nuclear is actually surprisingly safe. Waste should not be an issue, thats what space is for after all...
Reply
The issue is that when there is an accident (and there are *always* accidents), the result is exponentially worse with a Fission plant than it is with anything else.
A coal plant burns down, we have smog issues for a while.
A wind turbine falls over, no-one cares.
A *reprocessing* plant (ie not a *power* plant) has a fire, you have an increased incidence of kids with Down syndrome in the affected areas. At *best*.
As for getting the Waste into space: how much of the energy being produced needs to be expended to get rid of the waste?
That's just dumb (not you, the situation).
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It is? And you what, use them to power the inverted phase couplers that somehow get the excess power back down to Earth in a manner that doesn't microwave somewhere the size of a small country?
Aren't some of the main proponents of the Green cause now actually promoting nuclear power as the least enviromentally damaging and most sustainable form of power generation?
Reply
Not viable, but feasible.
As for shifting power, there are several options, Microwaves being one, coherent light being another.
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