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[Nadaka]

From what I've read, reclaiming nuclear fuel is more expensive than refining new.

It is using 1960s era processes. Some of the next generation reactor designs are designed with that process in mind, either with on site processing or even inside the reactor.

[Tellemurius]

I like that every time nuclear energy is discussed, recycling nuclear "waste" is glossed over or dismissed, or outright ignored as an option. Hell, it even contains medical isotopes that we can use for preventative medicine. It's like we're lighting campfires to light our cigarettes, and then walking away arguing about how we're going to avoid freezing while the fire slowly dies.

The technology is available now, and is in use in France - as far as I understand, we aren't using it because of political reasons, proliferation concerns which are rapidly becoming irrelevant in the face of much more powerful and now much cheaper biological weapons. It just bothers me. There's so much misinformation out there, even proponents get tripped up on propaganda sometimes.

Not just that, do you realize the safety protocols your country is using to carry out these recycling procedures? Hell they can't even use their hands anymore, all of their work done on spent fuel is done by robotics. Yes this can be done and we can make energy still but this stuff is stronger.

[Leonon]

Just found this browsing through my external hard drive.
Behold! the power of the future!

If this is accurate then a wealthy or obsessive person could build and run this themself.

[Tellemurius]

Damnit i remember special nuclear reactors that were built in the Soviet Union that powered small villages but i can't remember their names or what they used, it was a isotope from the earth alkali metals.

[PTTG??]

Damnit i remember special nuclear reactors that were built in the Soviet Union that powered small villages but i can't remember their names or what they used, it was a isotope from the earth alkali metals.

Maybe thermocouples? They use those for the voyager space probes; they heat one side with radioactive decay and cool the other side with a radiator (which is difficult in space, but plausible in a Russian village)

[Tellemurius]

Damnit i remember special nuclear reactors that were built in the Soviet Union that powered small villages but i can't remember their names or what they used, it was a isotope from the earth alkali metals.

Maybe thermocouples? They use those for the voyager space probes; they heat one side with radioactive decay and cool the other side with a radiator (which is difficult in space, but plausible in a Russian village)

Yes they were like that.

[Zrk2]

So, uh nuclear FTW?

-'Green' energy isn't actually green, and is far too expensive compared to traditional methods.
-Carbon based fuels are going to run out soon.
-Hydroelectric dams, well, there's no more room to build them and they destroy habitats.

[Tellemurius]

We would have to build up infrastructure to begin development for future nuclear tech but yes its much better.

[Zrk2]

In Ontario we get 50% of our energy from nuclear and we're supposed to be building more reactors in the near future.

Local university offers only program (in Canada) for bachelors in nuclear operations. Guess where I'm planning on going?

[ein]

That'd be a CANDU, right?
They use deuterium oxide and are pretty cool.

[malimbar04]

We can make our own oil now btw. we can grow pure cultures of specific algeae, and that makes specific length chains of vegetable oil A relatively simple chemical process takes that and turns it straight into gasoline (or whatever other fuel we like). It's not profitable now with the cheap price of oil, but it could easily be as good as or better than the current method of getting oil.

If that doesn't take off, we can always switch to pure electrical from solar arrays. It'd be a pain in the ass and we'd have to become a lot more efficient, but we could do it right now if we had to.

[Max White]

Not only can we make our own oil, but the if we are thinking of the same algae, then it takes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to produce the oil, so if you burnt 100% of produced oil, you would be carbon neutral, and if you missed even a single drop you would be off setting the current problem. Bio solar power to the rescue!

[Zrk2]

That'd be a CANDU, right?
They use deuterium oxide and are pretty cool.

Yup. Suck that Iran, no bombs.

I don't think the solar thing will work, because it isn't always sunny. And the amount of pollution and GHGs produced creating the battery is the same as the amount produced by a conventional car in ~5 years.

[PTTG??]

That'd be a CANDU, right?
They use deuterium oxide and are pretty cool.

Yup. Suck that Iran, no bombs.

I don't think the solar thing will work, because it isn't always sunny. And the amount of pollution and GHGs produced creating the battery is the same as the amount produced by a conventional car in ~5 years.

Personal batteries, yes. Large scale operations do not use chemical batteries, instead other, more cost-efficient systems. For instance, pumping water up during the day and generating power hydroelectrically at night. Also, I understand that molten salt solar systems work by melting salt and using that to boil water. The heat is supposedly so intense it can operate for twelve hours without sunlight.

[Muz]

Nuclear's fine if done right. Just don't put it where it can blow up. People have an irrational fear of it, just like they fear planes.

It's cleaner than fossil fuel power systems, which is the most widely used now. It damages the environment less than hydro plants. If a hydro plant blows up, you'd get similar devastation to a small nuclear meltdown.

I believe we could get to solar and cold fusion. It'll take a lot of work, it's not impossible at all, just hard with our present technology and understanding. Or things like bio fuel, but I don't think it'd be much less polluting than our current fossil fuels.