Posted on 01/12/2018 8:24:23 AM PST by Kaslin
Following the recent record-setting low temperatures, the importance of reliable, abundant, and inexpensive energy is now more obvious than ever. It was certainly appropriate that the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS), released on December 18, three days before the start of winter, emphasized energy security.
To “Promote American prosperity” and “Advance American influence,” two of the four vital national interests identified in the NSS, the Trump administration asserts that “our Nation must take advantage of our wealth in domestic resources.” And one of the most important of its domestic resources, one America is no longer taking full advantage of, are its vast coal reserves, the largest of any nation on Earth.
Testifying on Nov. 28 at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) public hearing on the withdrawal of the Clean Power Plan in Charleston, W.Va., Robert E. Murray, president and CEO of Murray Energy Corp., summarized the bleak state of affairs:
“Prior to the election of President Obama, 52% of America’s electricity was generated from coal, and this rate was much higher in the Midwest. That percentage of coal generation declined under the Obama Administration to 30%. Under the Obama Administration, and its so-called Clean Power Plan, over 400 coal-fired generating plants totaling over 100,000 megawatts of capacity were closed with no proven environmental benefit whatsoever.”
Much of this was driven by Obama’s determination to be seen to be contributing to “arresting climate change,” to quote from his 2015 NSS, by mandating severe reductions of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants. Unbelievably, Obama’s 2015 NSS listed “Climate change” ahead of “Major energy market disruptions” in its “list of top strategic risks to our interests.” That made no sense. Climate is, and always will be, variable. There is nothing we can do to stop it. And many scientists do not support the hypothesis that our CO2 emissions will cause dangerous climate change.
Following the recent record-setting low temperatures, the importance of reliable, abundant, and inexpensive energy is now more obvious than ever. It was certainly appropriate that the 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS), released on December 18, three days before the start of winter, emphasized energy security.
To “Promote American prosperity” and “Advance American influence,” two of the four vital national interests identified in the NSS, the Trump administration asserts that “our Nation must take advantage of our wealth in domestic resources.” And one of the most important of its domestic resources, one America is no longer taking full advantage of, are its vast coal reserves, the largest of any nation on Earth.
Testifying on Nov. 28 at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) public hearing on the withdrawal of the Clean Power Plan in Charleston, W.Va., Robert E. Murray, president and CEO of Murray Energy Corp., summarized the bleak state of affairs:
“Prior to the election of President Obama, 52% of America’s electricity was generated from coal, and this rate was much higher in the Midwest. That percentage of coal generation declined under the Obama Administration to 30%. Under the Obama Administration, and its so-called Clean Power Plan, over 400 coal-fired generating plants totaling over 100,000 megawatts of capacity were closed with no proven environmental benefit whatsoever.”
Much of this was driven by Obama’s determination to be seen to be contributing to “arresting climate change,” to quote from his 2015 NSS, by mandating severe reductions of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants. Unbelievably, Obama’s 2015 NSS listed “Climate change” ahead of “Major energy market disruptions” in its “list of top strategic risks to our interests.” That made no sense. Climate is, and always will be, variable. There is nothing we can do to stop it. And many scientists do not support the hypothesis that our CO2 emissions will cause dangerous climate change.
Tom Harris is executive director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition. He writes from a province, Ontario, that seriously damaged its economy by banning all coal-fired power generation.
Uninformed science fiction nonsense. The Thorium cycle does not make plutonium. It makes U 233 instead.
Another fallacy. The cost of uranium is negligible in the balance of the cost of nuclear power. It just isn't a factor. The principal cost is the cost of the construction of a power plant meeting modern nuclear safety requirements - and these are not BS regulatory requirements, but real requirements to ensure the safety of the public, workers and capital investment.
Way more than I can try to condense into a post, but it’s not because of any U shortage. Here’s a good starting point:
https://liquidfluoridethoriumreactor.glerner.com/2012-what-is-a-lftr/
https://eic.rsc.org/feature/is-thorium-the-perfect-fuel/2000092.article
There have been proposals for smaller scale LFTRs that lend themselves to distributed generation - many small generation plants near the high demand areas rather than larger ones like we have today which require costly and vulnerable transmission infrastructure.
And you are engaged in one of the biggest fallacies of all time - that a yet unproven technology makes obsolete technologies that work well and have gone through multiple cycles of innovation and incremental improvement.
You are being led astray by a bunch of folks who want more government money to do stuff because there is no source of private investment to do it, and the government cannot get any group of experts to endorse spending money on it either.
I said “no weapons grade plutonium”.
Please, this is not a point that can be argued. Not in good faith anyway.
Do some research. And have a nice weekend.
Dependable energy is spelled L-N-G.
As you are quite aware Th is not a nuclear fuel. It is used to breed U 233, which is the fissionable fuel. U233 is usable for nuclear weapons. Google it, please.
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