Can Nuclear Power Deliver?

At the beginning of the new year, SEAL is pleased to introduce its new
campaign 'Can Nuclear Power Deliver?'. Based on literature review and
expert interviews, SEAL's 13th briefing paper provides an overview of
arguments in the nuclear debate.
http://www.sealnet.org/portal/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=12

Nuclear peril
- Waste: technical solutions exist, but lack of a political agreement
- Proliferation: can and needs to be managed
- Nuclear safety: an issue for older nuclear plants, but promising
'passive safety' designs for new reactors

The nuclear promise
- The power of the atom: a fistful of matter holding enough energy to
power a city of a million for a year
- Climate change mitigation: each major nuclear power station saves 6
million tonne of greenhouse gasses per year compared to fossil-based
electricity generation
- Energy security: abundant energy supply when using advanced
reprocessing and fast neutron reactors

>>From peril to promise
- Public opinion - taken hostage by extremes
- Technology: extremely complex scientific & technical challenges need
global cooperation and a 'man on the moon' momentum

Conclusion
Nuclear technology needs to address its problems, and holds tremendous
promise if it does. The 'nuclear option' does not represent a single
option, but offers many choices on building additional reactors, a
moratorium ( no new reactors), phaseout (reduce existing reactors),
reactor types, waste processing and R&D expenditure.

When excluding all nuclear options, a plan is needed how to build an
energy system without it. The fact that we yet have to see such a
(transparent) plan may relate to the fact that the numbers simply do
not add up without the use of nuclear energy.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: What will he do next?
    ... energy problems. ... embrace nuclear energy as it weans us off fossil fuels. ... All fission nuclear reactors produce plutonium as a natural byproduct. ... wealthy populations leave a smaller footprint on the environment than ...
    (comp.sys.hp.mpe)
  • Re: More Nukes on the Bay?
    ... Let's also not forget how union construction workers on those early plants sabotaged critical systems during construction, requiring multi-million dollar reworks to correct, which they pocketed with triple overtime. ... memories have faded of the 1979 radioactive leak at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania that threw the US nuclear industry into disarray. ... Meanwhile, energy security concerns and worries about climate change have reshaped the debate, and financial incentives and a new licensing process have altered the economics. ... The first full application for two new reactors, in southern Texas, was submitted at the end of September. ...
    (rec.boats)
  • Re: Fox News, get thee behind me
    ... Nuclear power is pointless. ... I didn't realize until looking into it further how little waste nuclear energy actually gives off and how even that can be reused. ... British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has just commissioned eight new reactors, and says there's "no upper limit" to the number Britain will build in the future. ...
    (rec.music.gdead)
  • Chinas Energy Strategy
    ... China embraces the atom ... With domestic energy demand expected to increase steadily over the ... Beijing has embraced nuclear power as a solution. ... According to the China National Nuclear Corp, ...
    (soc.culture.china)
  • Re: China Promotes Another Boom: Nuclear Power
    ... released Friday by the Energy Information Administration ... > How important are the fast breeder reactors in ensuring India's energy ... > the nuclear resource profile we have in the country. ... > Kingdom have not persisted with their breeder reactor programme. ...
    (sci.physics)