Re: Can Nuclear Power Deliver?

"Citizen" <hans.dekeulenaer@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1137941119.526750.293100@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 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

A bit of an exageration. With a non-breeder cycle it takes around 6
truckloads of nuclear fuel to do that (assuming 1,000 megawatts for a
year). It takes around 38,000 railcar loads of coal to do the same, or
maybe twice that much biomass.

> - 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.
>


.

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