Nuclear Power, Constitutional Rights, and Politics

It's much to late to be asking such questions now! Nuclear energy is going to kill us all sooner or later. It's much to early to be talking about shutting down the nuclear plants too! The so-called scientists don't know how to shut a reactor off. It's like kids playing with a new toy. Do you think politicians know anything about this subject?

Well Chernobyl was the only case where serious damage was done this was because of the construction of the Plant. When they released the Pressure it the superheated Hydrogen combined with other hydrogen in a heated reactor room that was within a protective measure of the keeping the Radiation in and when the preasure was released the superheated Water broke down to Hydrogen that reached a pressure to explode. That is what caused the area around Chernobyl to be radioactive to this day. Stoping a Reactor is pretty much impossible as well the whole point of the Rods is to react that is what they are designed for. The only way to really cool down the rods would be to put them in Liquid Nitrogen which would create for several hours Nitrogen Isotopes that would be radioactive. like N-16. The small amount of radiation that is released by plants have 12 years of Half-life so about 24 years of total life. Also the energy created by Nuclear power plants is far more efficient than any current tech beyond Geothermal and even then Nuclear power is far more efficient in that we are taking a very fundamental reaction of the Universe and using it to power us. These of course are far more controlled than lets say space. But really Nuclear Power Plants should be located in places that are as far away from major population centers and away from the coast or areas that have a chance of a natural disaster. They should be designed to handle a multitude of issues like the power going out and have back ups for the back ups. I mean the one in Japan did have these but in the planning a massive earthquake like the one that hit wasn't planned for in the design and neither was the massive waves that happened. In the design of any new plants it should be taken into account. Also a lot of the media is fearmongling on the whole danger of well build Nuclear Power Plants. They are quite safe if they are well managed which for the most part they are because the businesses that own them they cost Millions if not Billions to build and they want to protect there money from massive government fines you think $20Billion for the Oil Spill is bad in the United States if it was found that kind of neglect was done to a Nuclear Plant that company would be forced to close its doors. Also the future is moving toward Fusion Reactors anyway. Thats right mini suns being created here on earth.

Nuclear power is actually much safer than drilling for oil. Deaths from mining coal, drilling for oil, etc. are much higher. We also go to war over oil. How many lives lost over that? Nuclear energy had some accidents. What about the oil spill in the gulf? the trapped miners in Chile? The alternative isn't much safer. Green energy is the future. Until then nuclear power should be used.

No, I think nuclear, like everything else, should not be subsidized or given any special privileges, but otherwise allowed to run like any other business, where they are held liable for any damages they might case. If they cannot afford this or the insurance needed, that means nuclear is not viable and will not be used.

Hi "RBBantiles", GOOD LUCK getting that one through. Yes, I do agree with you when you speak of nuclear power being a threat not only to personal and businesss properties but to we HUMANS who at the moment occupy this rock in space.

matersfish and Blue Goblin said most of what I wanted to say. Nuclear energy is the best we've got but suffers from horrible publicity. You mention the three "disasters" in nuclear energy's history without realizing how low that percentage of problem that is, and the onlt really bad one, Chernobyl, isn't even in the same league as modern nuclear plants. It's alot like airplanes versus cars. It is sometimes difficult to get people to believe that flying is statistically safer. As to whether the public should have a say in where plants go, I know that happens pretty much to everything in America. Many communities rally around denying Wal-Marts to be built in their area, they sure as heck will speak up and find a way to stop nuclear power plants if it came to that. Ultimately though, construction and operation of any type of power plant in America is going to be based on corporate profitability before politics.