We Need to Talk About Sellafield, and a Nuclear Solution That Ticks All Our Boxes

The Guardian (UK) ^ | Dec 5, 2011 | George Monbiot

[distressed]

In his book Prescription for the Planet, the environmentalist Tom Blees explains the remarkable potential of integral fast reactors (IFRs). These are nuclear power stations which can run on what old plants have left behind. Conventional nuclear power uses just 0.6% of the energy contained in the uranium that fuels it. Integral fast reactors can use almost all the rest. There is already enough nuclear waste on earth to meet the world's energy needs for several hundred years, with scarcely any carbon emissions.....

When the hot waste has been used up, the IFRs can be loaded with depleted uranium (U-238), of which the world has a massive stockpile. The material being reprocessed never leaves the site: it remains within a sealed and remotely operated recycling plant. Anyone trying to remove it would quickly die. By ensuring the fissile products are unusable, the IFR process reduces the risk of weapons proliferation. The plant operates at scarcely more than atmospheric pressure, so it can't blow its top. Better still, it could melt down only by breaking the laws of physics. If the fuel pins begin to overheat, their expansion stops the fission reaction. If, like the Fukushima plant, an IFR loses its power supply, it simply shuts down, without human agency. Running on waste, with fewer pumps and valves than conventional plants, they are also likely to be a good deal cheaper. So there's just one remaining question: where are they? In 1994 the Democrats in the US Congress, led by John Kerry, making assertions as misleading as the Swift Boat campaign that was later deployed against him, shut down the research programme at Argonne National Laboratory that had been running successfully for 30 years.

[distressed]

In 1994 the Democrats in the US Congress, led by John Kerry, making assertions as misleading as the Swift Boat campaign that was later deployed against him, shut down the research programme at Argonne National Laboratory that had been running successfully for 30 years

Dr. Charles Till, nuclear physicist at Argonne National Labs said of IFR technology that "at one stroke you have given yourself almost unlimited energy and you have then done it by using the waste product that otherwise would be a nuisance. So that you have a very long-term energy source, and you've got a waste product that won't last nearly as long"

[crghill]

Pflr

[FreedomOfExpression]

What did the Swift Boat veterans say about Kerry that was supposedly misleading?

[GraceG]

LFTRs work in a simular way as well and should be studied, Kirk Sorensen has many good lectures on Youtube about them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4

This video is an 2 hours long but very very good, watch the first five minutes and if you are interested keep watching.

[distressed]

That comment reflects that this author is a lefty who seems to have awakened to the fact that the Democrats blocked another avenue towards energy production and independence

[Repeal The 17th]

“...power stations which can run on what old plants have left behind...”
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I have often wondered why spent fuel (nuclear waste) that continued to emit so much energy that it was unsafe for thousands of years didn’t have some valuable use.

[WOBBLY BOB]

But there's a better demonstration that it's good to go: last week GE Hitachi (GEH) told the British government that it could build a fast reactor within five years to use up the waste plutonium at Sellafield, and if it doesn't work, the UK won't have to pay. A fast reactor has been running in Russia for 30 years, and similar plants are now being built in China and India. GEH's proposed PRISM reactor uses the same generating technology as the IFR, though the current proposal doesn't include the reprocessing plant. It should.

[achilles2000]

What did the Swift Boat veterans say about Kerry that was supposedly misleading?”

NOTHING AT ALL.

[DJ MacWoW]

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[RightOnTheBorder]

Spent fuel rods have an extremely valueable use. They can be converted into weapons grade nuclear material. The original reason for disposing used fuel was non-proliferation. However the rest of the world didn’t have our resources and has been reconditioning fuel rods for quite some time making our policy assinine.

[JimRed]

What did the Swift Boat veterans say about Kerry that was supposedly misleading?

I think he's referring to Kerry's misleading everyone about his "heroism" as a Swiftboat skipper.

[FreedomOfExpression]

I just had to mention that line in the article about the Swift Boat “campaign” since the author tried using it to make a point.

FReegards!

[NonValueAdded]

as misleading as the Swift Boat campaign that was later deployed against him,

Bull freaking Streisand! SBVfT were anything but misleading.