Hmm..

[kechara_]

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,21307346-31037,00.html

It's kind of scary how the government is using the cost as an argument against the implementation of a far cleaner source of energy (lower emissions anyone?). The only (possibly

Comments

[_leareth]

No. Absolutely not. Clean energy is all well and good, but not when there's the risk of terrorist attack or accident creating Chernobyl in our country. Besides, radioactive waste lasts for /millions/ of years -- how can anyone be so arrogant as to think that sealing it up in a mountain will be okay for that long?

[kechara_]

Hmm so you think the long-term damage from coal power plant emissions is nothing compared to the threat of a nuclear meltdown? (although to me, from the sounds of things we're kind of screwed either way)

[_leareth]

Both are going to be screw us over, but when there are other sources of energy such as wind and solar (if we can figure out how to get it more efficiently) we shouldn't have to choose the lesser of the two evils. Also, given how much coolant and water is needed to run nuclear power plants, I don't think nuclear is the brightest of ideas for Australia given our water situation.

[kechara_]

Hmm yeah it would be nice if we could get solar going, not too sure about wind power.. but I guess given the amount of coastline we have it might work also?

Haha yeah fair enough with the crappy water situation thing.. I've only started paying attention to nuclear energy recently, so all I know about it is what I've read in the news so far.

[lord_blitz]

whilst i know it's slightly off topic: i wonder what happened to all those fancy hybrid cars that were being designed a decade ago. lower emissions, higher efficiency

[kechara_]

Hmm as far as I know, there are hybrid cars but most people don't own one because they're expensive not a lot better efficiency wise I think? (This is afaik, but keep in mind my knowledge is crappy :P) I have also heard about the banning(?) of the sales of incandescent bulbs as well, which will be an interesting change. Hopefully for the better anyway..

And I totally agree about things not being built to last :/ Wasteful and very much economically driven, I wish companies would really stop and design things for the long term and stop being so damn cheap about R&D and stop just focusing on their stupid profit margins.

Haha rantage.. XD

[j3ffu]

Hybrid cars suck cos although they're good for reducing fuel, the batteries that need to be replaced every 8-10 years or so is just as bad for the environment if you're driving a crappy inefficient car like russell's old one =p
Well, thats my understanding XD

[kechara_]

Ahaha yeah.. we can't win *sigh*

HUMAN = FAIL. THE END.

And I really gotta stop starting my comments with 'Hmm' ... XD

[hornetsnest]

No, nuclear power should be treated with the utmost respect. Chernobyl was a brand new nuclear power station in Ukraine. The problem with nuclear power is that when there is an accident, the affects will last a while longer. The town that was closest to Chernobyl had to be completely evacuated. In addition, Belarus, one of the worst affected countries have greatly increased thyroid cancer rates, birth defects and genetic mutations. Do you want all our children to be born knowing that this would occur to them?

One of the problems is that the radiation is still in the ground, affecting the air, food and water. In addition, do you want nuclear waste on the public highways, roads and railways?

[starph0x]

We should really go build another nuclear reactor. We only have one at the moment, and that means we have only one facility for producing sterile water for hospitals and medicinal purposes. If that went offline for some reason that wouldn't be so good...

If anything another reactor could be used for research purposes. Since we have a lot of uranium in this country, it would make sense for us to actually turn that resource into some sort of industry (instead of what we currently do with our metals: dig them up and export them overseas).

Though i think we need to go through some sort of paradigm shift in our society: we're too wasteful. We really should think about consuming less in the first place... There's no end to people's wants and there's limited resources available so we should better ration them.

[zengu]

I'm pro for nuclear power, mainly due to its long term usage. I think if you look at a world wide perspective, if we go nuclear and something does go wrong, the problem is 'isolated' (although really long lasting XD). If we continue how we are now, the entire world gets screwed over in the end. Well, I guess technically the world will be doomed either way, just a matter of how long.

Nuclear waste actually gets disposed of quite safely. ^^' The waste is 'diluted' a lot (mixed with lead or something like that, from memory) and stored in canisters that get buried 1km underground. You'd just need to keep track of where the waste gets put.

On a side note, the movie Who Killed the Electric Car? might reveal some things about the lack of hybrid cars. :p (I also feel that we need things that are better quality and longer lasting... but with that, companies lose out financially in the long run, so I don't really see that happening much any more. So clearly shown in light bulb production. -_- I want my ever lasting light bulb now!)