Friday, March 06, 2009
Obama to nuclear power industry: Drop dead
If you believe the Democrats, greenhouse gases are going to destroy the world and we need to rebuild the economy. Naturally, therefore, we should shut down the nuclear power industry:
President Obama’s proposed budget cuts off most money for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project, a decision that fulfills a campaign promise and wins the president political points in Nevada — but raises new questions about what to do with radioactive waste from the nation’s nuclear power plants.
Leaving a Depository The decision could cost the federal government additional billions in payments to the utility industry, and if it holds up, it would mean that most of the $10.4 billion spent since 1983 to find a place to put nuclear waste was wasted.
A final decision to abandon the repository would leave the nation with no solution to a problem it has struggled with for half a century....
Opponents of nuclear power contend that the nation’s failure to find a permanent repository for the waste is a reason to shut down nuclear reactors and forget about building more.
Abandonment of the Yucca Mountain depository would be a blow for the nuclear industry, which is hoping to begin work on new reactors for the first time in 30 years.
It seems like a high price to pay for three electoral votes.
15 Comments:
By 
MTF, at
Fri Mar 06, 12:13:00 PM:
I am at a loss to understand if there is anything other than political pay back guiding this administration. Someone doesn't like coal, so out it goes. Someone else hates oil, so no drilling. Reid doesn't like nuclear, so that's gone. Does anyone in the administration understand where electricity comes from?
By 
, at
Fri Mar 06, 12:44:00 PM:
They think it comes from the plug in the wall. In other words they do not have a clue. They also do not realize the huge difference in scale between a nuclear power plant or coal fired plant and their solar cells and windmills. They also do not have a clue as to the difference in cost between these methods. They don't know what they don't know - the worst prescription for disaster.
Every decision since inauguration has been either corrupt, treasonous or deadass stupid. The Orcs are running the place.
By Charlottesvillain, at
Fri Mar 06, 12:46:00 PM:
Let's stop wasting time and just shut everything down.
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 01:43:00 PM:
Just wait until the environmentalists block building of solar collection farms because they use too much land and the towers to take to power to the grid will displace too many frogs, rabbits and tortises.
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 02:11:00 PM:
When they shut down Yucca Mountain I bet they won't cut any jobs or spend a penny less.
That isn't going to happen in Harry Reid's Nevada.
Somewhere in that budget, or in another, money and jobs have been provided to offset closing YM.
Displaced YM employees will probably be hired by DOE and sit in a new DOE regional office facility yet to be built. It will cost of about a hundred million $.
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 02:13:00 PM:
Of all the dumb ass things Obama is doing his energy policies may be the worst. We will be left weak and vulnerable. It borders on treason.
Link
By MainStreet, at
Fri Mar 06, 02:14:00 PM:
Everyone except the liberals know how to fix the energy crisis, drill in Alaska, drill offshore, retrieve oil from the shale in the Dakotas, use natural gas from the Good Ole USA while developing Solar,Wind,Geo-Thermal and clean coal technology.
We would have kept $700 billion out of the hands of the Arabs, Russians and Hugo Chavez last year alone while creating jobs here is the USA.
The administration's stupidity amazes me.
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 02:35:00 PM:
Walters interviewed Jane Fonda after the China Syndrome. Fonda stated we had to end nuclear power now. Walters asked what we should substitute.
Fonda: "Electricity, Barbara. We need to replace it with electricity."
Ted Turner's sins: some have been paid for.
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 04:39:00 PM:
Under Kyoto nuclear power can't provide carbon offsets.
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 04:39:00 PM:
Here is a suggestion for anyone who'd like to see how stupid this is.
1. Open Google Earth, and go to Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
You'll see a remote desert with a very ugly mountain.
2. Pan to the valley to the northeast.
You'll see over eight hundred craters - the remnants of nuclear weapons testing. Most of these were underground, and contain huge amounts of radioactive byproducts that cannot be removed.
Does anybody really think there's anyplace better to put this stuff? As a Nevada resident, I'm good with it. Besides, I'd rent space to places like Europe to store their stuff, too - I'd like to see the state get the revenue.
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 06:07:00 PM:
Could be a good time to go off the grid...
By , at
Fri Mar 06, 11:36:00 PM:
The Yucca Mountain repository would be unnecessary if we reprocessed the used fuel. The resulting high-level waste would be very small in volume and very short-lived. The reprocessed fuel would be reused.
It's insane to let the N Koreans and Iranians get nuclear weapons while denying ourselves the benefits of a Plutonium economy.
By , at
Sat Mar 07, 12:36:00 PM:
I agree with Anonymous 11:36. Used nuclear fuel may in the future be a valuable asset, to be reused in new reactor designs that do not need enriched uranium. That the material is so dangerous that it must be buried in the bedrock is just a made-up problem designed by opponents of nuclear energy.
By , at
Sun Mar 08, 07:02:00 PM:
Obama is making a big bet on wind and solar. I'm no expert, but can't see how they ever become more than 10% of the mix, given their higher cost and issues with how they support the grid.
So what am I missing?
Do Obama's advisors know how to lower the kwh costs of solar and wind so that they're cost effective ... or at least not so expensive that they won't bankrupt our industries? Do we know how to use these technologies to meet peak demand?
If not, shouldn't we put putting just a modest few billion into more basic research ... to solve these problems first ... rather than building out on the basis of inferior technology?
If I'm not missing something, shouldn't someone be pointing this out.
Link
By , at
Mon Mar 09, 12:28:00 AM:
Do Obama's advisors know how to lower the kwh costs of solar and wind so that they're cost effective ... or at least not so expensive that they won't bankrupt our industries?
Yes, subsidize them. You think I jest, but that's really how these people think.
