Quote Originally Posted by N2EY View Post
But how do you lower the waste density of a spent fuel rod? Is the process safer or more dangerous than the storage method now in use?



But - I thought you were saying you were pro nuclear energy....Now you seem to be saying just the opposite.



Don't forget all the energy, danger, waste etc. required to make the fuel for the plant, too. That's a whole industry in itself.



Of course. Even the low-level stuff can remain dangerous for a very long time, and so must be stored safely.



There's more to burning coal than fly ash.

But that's beside the point. The big question is: I thought you were saying you were pro nuclear energy....Now you seem to be saying just the opposite.

73 de Jim, N2EY
I am pro nuclear; what I am against is the dangerous way in which the fuel and waste are handled.
I am also against private industry using it to generate eletricity because of the temptation to cut corners in the name of profit. Given this country's tendenacy to employ people in government who worked for the industries they are regulating this conflict of interest shouldn't be tolerated.
Just like the FDA the DOE suffers from the same contamination and we all suffer because of it.

You lower the fuel to cooling water ratio by using more cooling water and less waste per unit of volume. You don't have to break down the spent fuel rods to do this you just store a whole lot less in the same pond.

One alternative that has been largely ignored for decades is the use of thorium as fuel; thorium reactors produce less heat output however they do it over a much longer time period they are safer and waste disposal is less complex.

There are problems with every means of generating electricity, every one of them in some way shape or form is harmful to the environment, but then again so are volcanoes and earthquakes.
There are no perfect systems and while coal burning for decades put mercury into the environment that mercury was in the environment to begin with. Now we can filter it out along with just about every other combustion product to levels far below what was acceptable decades ago......
Unfortunately we have an administration who is hostile towards generating power economically in the US.