...opening 'Pandora's box'... creating an evil that cannot be undone.
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barbara Rose Johnston <bjohnston@igc.org>
Date: Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 2:42 PM
Subject: Re: In this nuclear world, what is the meaning of 'safe'? | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
To: bjarias@gmail.com
From: Barbara Rose Johnston <bjohnston@igc.org>
Date: Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 2:42 PM
Subject: Re: In this nuclear world, what is the meaning of 'safe'? | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
To: bjarias@gmail.com
Some six decades ago, we humans opened Pandora's Box. The immense energy, light, and heat that comes from toying with radioactive elements is power in its' rawest form. It is seductive. It is a powerful master. And, in its nature, it consumes. I
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From: bjarias@gmail.com
The way we currently operate nuclear power is inefficient and mind bogglingly dangerous.
You folks are allot more up to speed on this than the average individual.
Is it in the realm of possibility to make the entire process (start to finish) a safe one. Could we... should we... redirect resources, putting on a full court press, and make nuclear work.
If we can't, then it would appear we've got to stop and bury it... cause continuing on the way we are now is a sure fire recipe for disaster after disaster.
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On Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 2:20 PM, Barbara Rose Johnston <bjohnston@igc.org> wrote:
I share your concerns. What is all the more worrisome is that "safe" reprocessing technology (taking old waste and reprocessing to use again as mixed (MOX) fuel) is what is now the biggest threat at Fukushima (content of reactor 3 that has partially melted and vented into the atmosphere, as well as many of those stored depleted fuel rods)...
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http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/nuclear-world-what-the-meaning-of-safe
From: bjarias@gmail.com
Does our current use of nuclear power make sense?
At Fukushima each reactor has between 60 and 83 tons of spent fuel rods stored next to them.
In the US at Vermont Yankee Power Plant there are a staggering 690 tons of spent fuel rods on site...(left over from boiling water to create steam to generate electricity... brilliant).
How much potential disaster are we talking about?
It's said the atomic bomb that exploded at Hiroshima created about 2,000 curies of radioactivity.
Spent fuel pools at Vermont Yankee are said to hold about 75,000,000 curies of radioactivity (reportedly without backup cooling systems).
What's wrong with this scenario?
Running out of oil at an alarming rate, the world should be desperately seeking new sources of energy.
With hundreds of reactors spread around the globe, seems to be allot just lying around at the moment... unused & extremely dangerous!!
Why can't we come up with technology for reuse of this 'spent' material? What's stopping this initiative?
Spending hundreds of billions elsewhere... how much money is presently going to solve these critical issues?
Fuel rod pool - the US alone has 71,000 metric tonnes of spent nuclear fuel.
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