Nuclear Power

[Jaimoe]

... and massive water companies like Nestle and Coke) in 15-20 years.

I wish people would quit buying bottled water. I work for Nestle and absolutly refuse to buy bottled water and will only drink it if I absolutly have to.

EDIT- I do not drink soda/pop. Sadly many eating establishments have switched to bottled water which makes it ruff.

thats funny because i am drinking a bottle of nestle water right now. i dont drink tap water in dayton because apparently there have been traces of mood enhancing drugs and hormones found in the city water. i dont need the government adding things to my water to try and numb me and turn me into a woman.

Dude, water companies aren't regulated (especially Nestle) and thus don't have to answer to anyone. Often bottled water companies mine water right out of a city's tap-water system. Enjoy your hormone-infested bottled water. And governments aren't the one's dumping the mood enhancers and hormones into the water system. It's us - we dump the drugs and hormones through our urine, blood, spit etc... down the drain far more than any hospital or slaughterhouse does. Oh yeah, you ingest more through your skin than you do by drinking tap water, so say goodbye to showering.

good point, but i do think the govt "enhances" our drinking water. sounds awfully bushy to me.

Isn't your government's fear of "enhanced" drinking water the reason why LSD is still categorized as a major capital offence?

well, as long as they can "enhance" it to the point to where people wont think for themselves and believe everything they say, its cool with them. of course we all know LSD promotes free thinking and open mindedness for some folks, therefore, it is illegal.

I'm sure everyone's heard of this fact:

The fear the US government had with LSD back when they originally made the drug illegal was the fear that the Soviet Union or some other perceived enemy could dose the US water supply leaving millions incapacitated and thus leaving the country open to attack.

Anyway, with this kind of inherent paranoia, I highly doubt the US government would adhere to dosing its own people when using various media tools for propaganda purposes is far more efficient and longer-lasting.

[pawpaw]

Cool thread Triple G!

Nuclear plants cost more to operate. Not counting the purchasing of the fuel of choice for a comparably sized plant, just to operate a nuke plant costs more. PLUS, most communities are scared of having a nuclear plant nearby, and through local gov't, have often shut down existing plants, or halted proposed plant development. Between cost and fear, I can understand why coal is still preferred by the energy companies. Why build an expensive new plant when there is no penalty for operating your disgusting old one, and it's cheaper anyway?

I think nuclear is a great energy option though. The uranium does need to mined, but not nearly to the extent that coal or natural gas does. The heat producing nuclear reaction is all done in a closed system, so there is no fuel combustion byproduct released to the atmosphere. The spent uranium does need to be properly stored, but it's not like it's just tossed into a muddy pond, and then out on to desert sand somewhere - there are highly controled and monitored facilities set up to safely contain the waste while it decomposes. The penalty for failure is high with nuclear, but it is also better understood now, and regulations can be developed to responsibly build and operate future plants. I'm a BIG fan of renewable energy, and as technology is developed, and production cost comes down, the percentage of energy that comes from these sources will increase - we won't need to be as reliant on coal, gas or nuke plants. Nuclear should be a larger part of our overall energy production though...people just need to learn that it's not as scary as they may think!  

[primushead]

Nuclear plants cost more to operate. Not counting the purchasing of the fuel of choice for a comparably sized plant, just to operate a nuke plant costs more. PLUS, most communities are scared of having a nuclear plant nearby, and through local gov't, have often shut down existing plants, or halted proposed plant development.

That's the thing.  I feel like people are basing their fear of nuclear power on the events of 25 years ago (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl).  I feel like if everyone were just better educated on the advances that have been made, they might warm up to the idea a little bit more.  Also, if the destruction that coal mining produces were more publicized, I think there would be a major outcry for SOME sort of alternative energy.  

But I think this may take a while... :-/

[Jaimoe]

There isn't a legitimate environmental scientist that will endorse nuclear energy as a viable and safe power source. The scientists that do support this type of energy are on the take. Oh yeah, in Canada, mining companies have the freedom to dig on anyone's land to find uranium. I bet ya the States has something similar.

[upstatestruggler]

solar and wind power=the future.
only problem? and why 'the government' isn't in any big hurry to do anything with it?
our power grids would have to be completely overhauled. there are people in my neck of the woods that are harnessing enough wind power to fuel entire towns.  the issue is that the outdated grid doesn't have the capacity to transmit what has been harnessed. so, it seems that the first thing that needs to be done is r&d of power transmission.
just my two cents.

[BH]

This is a great thread.  Very interesting.  I love the idea of wind power and solar power.   The entire solar system gets it's energy (at least to start) from the sun so essentially all of our power is related directly or indirectly to the sun.  We just need a good way to get a more direct tapper.

Jamoie, where did you get the idea that we will run out of oil in less than 20 years.  I'm not doubting the info, it just seems a bit extreme.   If that's the case, I may just have to make my next car purchase be the last.

[MMJ_fanatic]

but what do you do with the radioactive waste?

That's whet we have a space program for--blast those spent rods into space--at least NASA would be providing something useful to us finally.

[Jenny]

i dont understand why our society is based on a non-renewable energy source anyway.

$$$

[The DARK]

i dont understand why our society is based on a non-renewable energy source anyway.

$$$

I've heard some talk recently about using wave power to produce energy. Why isn't there more talk about this?

[BH]

I've heard some talk recently about using wave power to produce energy.

Do they use miss america pageant contestants?

[red]

[size=20]"NUKE - U - LER"
[/size]

[mjkoehler]

I actually have been considering adding ass tons of solor cells to the house to take over for my energy needs. I need to read up on that and using an all electric furnace instead of a natural gas on. When my hot water heater dies, I'm switching to a tank less that doesn't use gas.