OrTenThick Thoughts.: Unclear Issues ...

OrTenThick Thoughts.: Unclear Issues ...: "The nudge to write this piece arises as a result of the happenings around the world in the last couple of months. More-so, the recent e..."

Unclear Issues ...

The nudge to write this piece arises as a result of the happenings around the world in the last couple of months. More-so, the recent earthquake that hit the Pacific Ocean nearby Northeastern Japan at around 2:46pm on March 11 (JST) causing damage with blackouts, fire and tsunami. The death toll as at the time of typing this piece is put at 4277 and is expected to hit 10,000.


As my heart goes out to all those who have lost their loved ones in this disaster, my vex is with the leaders in authority. I still cant fathom why certain decisions are taken in this age and time. Despite the battle to save the lives of people in Japan, I listened with dismay as a top energy official in President Obama's cabinet urges regulators to press ahead with approving construction licenses for new nuclear power plants despite Japan's nuclear crisis.


In my curiosity, I searched for the importance of this 'unclear' Nuclear power, and what I found out made me vex the more: does it mean that top scientists would join ideas together to invent a machine that has its disadvantages almost equal the advantages. 


Advantages-

• Almost 0 emissions (doesn't emit green house gases). It produces electricity without pollution into the atmosphere. 
• They can be sited almost anywhere unlike oil which is mostly imported.
• The plants almost never experience problems if not from human error, which almost never happens anyway because the plant only needs like 10 people to operate it. 
• A small amount of matter creates a large amount of energy... so there is little fear that we will run out of it
• A lot of energy from a single power plant
• Current nuclear waste in the US is over 90% Uranium. If reprocessing were made legal again in the US we would have enough nuclear material to last 100s of years.
• A truckload of Uranium is equivalent in energy to 10,000+ truckloads of coal. (Assuming the Uranium is fully utilized)
• An nuclear aircraft carrier can circle the globe continuously for 30 years on its original fuel while a diesel fueled carrier has a range of only about 3000 miles before having to refuel.
• Modern reactors have 2-10x more efficiency than the old generation reactors currently in use around the US.
• New reactor types have been designed to make it physically impossible to melt down. As the core gets hotter the reaction gets slower, hence a run-away reaction leading to a melt-down is not possible.
• Theoretical reactors (traveling wave) are proposed to completely eliminate any long-lived nuclear waste created from the process.
• Breeder reactors create more usable fuel than they use.
• Theoretical Thorium reactors have many of the benefits of Uranium reactors while removing much of the risk for proliferation as it is impossible to get weapons-grade nuclear materials from Thorium. 

Disadvantages

• More expensive to build the plant,
• Proliferation concerns. Breeder reactors yield products that could potentially be stolen and turned into an atomic weapon. 
• Waste products dangerous and need to be carefully stored for long time. The spent fuel is highly radioactive and has to be carefully stored for many years after use. This adds to the costs.
• Waste is now contained in state of the art sealed containers and does not otherwise harm anyone. Radioactive waste that needs to be disposed from the plant is currently in a diluted form. If the fuel were reprocessed the waste would be much less, and more radioactive. The more radioactive the waste is the less time it takes for it to drop to safe levels of radioactivity.
• Nuclear power plants can be dangerous to its surroundings and employees. There has been a single case where a plant has gone through a meltdown and as a result left people dead and its surroundings destroyed. This was due to an over-capactiy plant in Soviet Russia that had no core containment. All nuclear power plants in the US and elsewhere have cement domes multiple feet thick to ensure core containment. 
• It would cost a lot to clean in case of spillages
• it can easily go kaboom if is used in the wrong way

For goodness sake, we were surviving without the nuclear power stations; don't get me wrong, I love innovation but not the type that would endanger the lives of people, as with the case presently in Japan where a small crew of technicians, braving radiation and fire, became the only people remaining at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station — and perhaps Japan’s last chance of preventing a broader nuclear catastrophe- nay to Gas emission...


Another unclear power that has been an issue in the past weeks, is the uprising in dictatorial controlled nations. Is power this intoxicating that rulers refuse to submit to the yearnings of the people. If strategic communication as evidently used to oust the Tunisian and Egyptian junta can be applied successfully, then there is power in the mass media.


Every dictator that refuses to listen to the yearnings of the people should be 'Facebooked', 'Twittered','Blogged' and 'YouTubed' out of the government house. Nations that are preparing for elections, should take advantage of the trend and vote credible leaders who will serve their tenure and handover to others.


While some are crying over the lost of their loved ones, investors and business people are wailing over the drop and rise in stocks/shares. This is another unclear issue ... but i'll reserve my comments for the next part.
God bless the world.