Re: I thought of an initialy regulated industry!... (fwd)

[Ryan Anderson <ryan@michonline.com>]

> The issue with storage is that it occurs on a time line that is best
> described as near-geologic. Periods of time that are orders of magnitude
> longer than human civilizations survive.
> 
> > coal plant are not only more voluminous (though less dense) than the coal
> > that goes in but also contain a substance that is more poisonous than
> > plutonium (arsenic trioxide).
> 
> Consider the difference in volume of these two waste products...


Really?  The amount of fuel that goes into a nuclear plant is farirly low,
compared to the amount shoved into a coal plant.  When they shut down the
nuclear plants to change the fuel, the fuel that dcomes out is 95% (or
maybe 99%, I forget the figures I heard at Fermi II in Michigan) usable.
The problem is that the governemtn refuses to let anyone process the fuel
to eliminiate the waste and reuse the fuel.  The 1-5% waste slows the
reaction down enough that the fuel is not nearly usable.

Considering pure volume:  Coal exhaust is continuos and significant.
Nuclear waste is a burst every 18 mohts, equal to a barrel or two, worst
case.

(to the best of my knowledge.)(


Ryan Anderson 
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