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Nuclear Power: Lighting the Future
Townhall.com ^ | 7/24/2008 | Rebecca Hagelin

Posted on 07/24/2008 2:44:26 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

Radical environmentalists didn’t like it when President Bush decided not to use the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. And they hated his lifting of the presidential ban on offshore drilling.

But whether they like it or not, our country needs a multi-pronged approach to our energy problems. A big part of any viable solution: Build more nuclear power plants.

That’s still forbidden, as far as many radical environmentalists are concerned. The folks at Greenpeace, for example, dismiss nuclear energy as “another false solution you hear a lot about these days.” Why is it “false”? Because, the group explains on its Web site, bringing a nuclear power plant online could take a number of years, and “we simply don’t have time to wait -- we need global-warming solutions that are ready to go now, like wind and solar.”

No one is claiming that we can have more nuclear power plants up and ready to go overnight. But that’s hardly an argument against building them. Indeed, because we need long-term energy solutions, the fact that it takes time to set up new plants means we should get started right away. Besides, according to Jack Spencer of The Heritage Foundation, we can reduce how long it takes. The current time frame includes four years to get a permit and five years to build the plant. But, Spencer says, once a few plants are built, there’s no reason the permitting time can’t be cut and construction done in four years.

(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; nuclear
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1 posted on 07/24/2008 2:44:27 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2

The problem is that the econuts all want us to go back to an agrarian, 19th century existance.

Sorry, nutcases... you can’t go back to the past without alot of people dying.


2 posted on 07/24/2008 2:50:01 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: clee1

Remember the”small is beautiful” thing? Amory lovins and those of his ilk, killed nuclear energy in the late ‘70’s. I know, I used to design nuclear power plants and established a pro nuclear group.


3 posted on 07/24/2008 2:58:25 AM PDT by brivette
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To: JohnHuang2

Pebble Bed Reactor Technology Bump!
Pebble Bed Reactor Technology Bump!
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WE NEED IT DEVELOPED, WE NEED LOTS OF IT...

AND WE NEED IT NOW.


4 posted on 07/24/2008 3:25:23 AM PDT by rlmorel (Clinging bitterly to Guns and God in Massachusetts...:)
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To: JohnHuang2
Wind and Solar my A$$. Wind will produce only about 1/2 of 1% of the energy we require and is both unstable and inconsistent to be a solution to our problems. Amen
5 posted on 07/24/2008 3:40:22 AM PDT by gakrak ("A wise man's heart is his right hand, But a fool's heart is at his left" Eccl 10:2)
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To: JohnHuang2; Delacon; According2RecentPollsAirIsGood; TenthAmendmentChampion; Horusra; CygnusXI; ...
... “we simply don’t have time to wait -- we need global-warming solutions that are ready to go now, like wind and solar.”

 




Beam me to Planet Gore !

6 posted on 07/24/2008 3:57:16 AM PDT by steelyourfaith
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To: rlmorel

Don’t place too much stock in pebble bed reactors yet.

There’ll be more Westinghouse AP1000s and General Electric ABWRs built sooner because we already know how to build and run them.


7 posted on 07/24/2008 3:58:25 AM PDT by wolfpat (If you don't like the Patriot Act, you're really gonna hate Sharia Law.)
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To: clee1
The problem is that the econuts all want us to go back to an agrarian, 19th century existance.

Clee, you are too kind....

They want you to live in a mud and straw yurt with an old Mexican burlap flour bag as your tunic and you are to eat vegan cooked over a cow dung powered fire.

I am sorry, I like hot running water, hot food, and a warm bed to much to give it all up to their false gods of eco-communism.

Besides I think they are just pissed they never could master math, chemistry, or physics enough to become a nuclear power plant operator or engineer of any discipline.

8 posted on 07/24/2008 4:41:42 AM PDT by taildragger (The Answer is Fred Thompson, I do not care what the question is.....)
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To: JohnHuang2

Nuclear is the way to go, but we also need more research into waste reclaimastion. Burying it 1000 feet underground is not the answer.


9 posted on 07/24/2008 4:42:31 AM PDT by chainsaw ( No racist radical Muslims in the WH)
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To: wolfpat

That’s true. Two of the current proposals here in Texas is to expand two of the current Nuclear Plants. It is cheaper since you don’t have to build the other support/admin facilities that already exist. I would assume the technology of those reactors would be the same or similar as the other two existing.


10 posted on 07/24/2008 4:43:51 AM PDT by neb52
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To: JohnHuang2

We need to declare sanctuary cities for nuclear energy. That way, companies can go in and build reactors without worrying about federal red tape. And if San Francisco is any indicator, the feds won’t touch a sanctuary city.

After all, more people have been killed by illegal immigrants than by nuclear power plants.

Sanctuary for Nukes, NOW!


11 posted on 07/24/2008 4:45:06 AM PDT by SlowBoat407 (ANWR would look great in pumps.)
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To: chainsaw

“reclaimastion”

From what I have read that would require the repealing of law that currently forbids the building of nuclear waste recycling plants like in France.


12 posted on 07/24/2008 4:45:24 AM PDT by neb52
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To: neb52

The technology isn’t exactly the same, but it’s extremely similar.

In Texas, they’ll probably be building the AP-1000s since both Comanche Peak and STP are Westinghouse PWRs.

Every nuclear plant in the US up till now has been a custom design. The advantages of the AP-1000 and the ABWR are that they’re already approved by the NRC. All the utilities have to do is get the building permits and then prove they built it according to design.


13 posted on 07/24/2008 4:54:48 AM PDT by wolfpat (If you don't like the Patriot Act, you're really gonna hate Sharia Law.)
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To: JohnHuang2

Anyone notice that “The China Syndrome” was being re-run on the AMC yesterday? Betcha we see more of it.


14 posted on 07/24/2008 5:00:14 AM PDT by Roccus (Someday it'll all make sense.....maybe.)
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To: rlmorel

Ditto!!!!


15 posted on 07/24/2008 5:09:20 AM PDT by catman67
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To: wolfpat

You ain’t kidding about the custom part. I remember my Father(worked for TXU) telling me about how the Government couldn’t make up their mind on the water/steam piping on Commanche Peak. TXU had to rip it out and replace it a few times. It jacked the price tag up pretty high to the effect that TXU had to go running to the PUC for a rate increased. I think that experience burned TXU from making any other attempts at building another nuclear facility. That and it saddled them with a huge debt, which TXU was always more in debt than other energy companies like Reliant.


16 posted on 07/24/2008 5:21:53 AM PDT by neb52
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To: JohnHuang2
Because, the group explains on its Web site, bringing a nuclear power plant online could take a number of years, and “we simply don’t have time to wait -- we need global-warming solutions that are ready to go now, like wind and solar.”

In a few years we may have battery packs that will make electric cars viable. We will need a greatly increased supply of electricity to run them on

17 posted on 07/24/2008 5:25:55 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell)
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To: wolfpat
I have my doubts. We had PSAR approved, foundations poured and walls up 50 feet when the NRC (after some hearing with intervenor's) decided some equipment capacities must be enlarged so we have to cancel exiting orders for heat exchangers etc. etc. and redesign a huge building with 3’ thick walls to accommodate the new equipment. Delay, delay delay on approved designs.

At the hearings, the same issues that were brought up at other plants were brought up again and again and recognized as legitimate by the hearing judge who was shopped for by the anti-nuke nuts from the east coast or west coast.

You design something with a safety margin of 5 to accommodate unknowns and future changes. The NRC then revises the local seismic site accelerations reducing the safety factor to 4.5 and the NRC tells you to never mind the original margin, redesign or re-qualify to the original design margin of 5.

A generic plan design will help but the crazies will still find judges who will hear them and impose absurd requirements for the political purpose of delaying the plants, driving up costs and cancellation.

The problem is political and until these enemies of America
and our secure future are routed and disposed of, we will endlessly spin our wheels on progress.

18 posted on 07/24/2008 5:36:57 AM PDT by threeoeight
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To: taildragger
Besides I think they are just pissed they never could master math, chemistry, or physics enough to become a nuclear power plant operator or engineer of any discipline.

That's why they became "teachers"!

19 posted on 07/24/2008 6:24:33 AM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW AND FOREVER!)
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To: JohnHuang2
Because, the group explains on its Web site, bringing a nuclear power plant online could take a number of years, and “we simply don’t have time to wait -- we need global-warming solutions that are ready to go now, like wind and solar.”

The federal government just place a two year moritorium on permits to build solar facilities on federal lands because the environmental groups claim solar is damaging the environment.

Could this be because solar has actully reached the stage where it can make a meaningful contribution to enery needs and the enviro wacko's don't really want a solution?

20 posted on 07/24/2008 6:29:01 AM PDT by CMAC51
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