Could Nuclear Power Wean the U.S. From Oil?

bblackfrog asks: "Is a Federal nuclear energy program viable? That is, can the USA eliminate our economic dependence on crude oil with a large scale federal program to build and maintain enough nuclear power plants to replace our current oil-based energy needs? The obvious political hurdles are (a) the left opposes nuclear energy, (b) the right opposes federalizing energy, and (c) the oil companies and Saudis wield a lot of clout. This makes a federal nuclear energy program far fetched I admit, however I'm more interested in the economics. Slashdot has covered advances in nuclear power technology. China's doing it." (Read more, below.) "How much energy is required to replace our fossil fuel consumption? What are the initial costs of the program, and just how cheap could the electricity be? How expensive would it be for our industries to convert? How expensive for home and auto conversions? How much of this cost should be picked up by the government? Bottom line: is nuclear power cheaper than our current oil-driven middle-east policy, with all of its blowback?"

Comments

Yes, definitely.

[krog]

A nuclear disaster would wean the US off a lot of things.... oil, food, water, you name it.

Re:Yes, definitely.

[bongoras]

Come on, get your terminology right!

In America, it's spelled and pronounced "Nukular" -- for at least four more years.

Re:Yes, definitely.

[PingPongBoy]

to harness fusion

Unfortunately my calculations show the fusion reactor to be the size of a star and must be constructed hundreds of millions of km from the consumers. On the bright side, the gravity of the power plant will be used to sling the earth quickly through the plant's magnetic field thus allowing us to capture enormous power from induction.

Not Biodiesel, Lipodiesel!

[bitingduck]

yes i know it would take *a lot* of soy crop to meet the US oil consumption

That's why we need "Lipodiesel"-- when you climb into your SUV, you plug a little hose into a couple stents in your thighs and belly, and it gives you liposuction treatment while you drive, sending the fat into your engine to propel the vehicle. This would solve both the oil problem and the fat problem plaguing the united states, would mean that lazyass drivers wouldn't have to exercise, and could not only eat all the french fries they wanted, they would need to in order to fuel the vehicle. You just stop at the McDonalds drive-thru to fill up.

Re:And what'll wean us from nuclear power?

[hendridm]

And what'll wean us from nuclear power?

A renewable power source that creates guns and beer as its byproduct.

Re:And what'll wean us from nuclear power?

[robertjw]

Dilithium Crystals

Re:Uh...

[micromoog]

President Bush approved the building of a new planet last year.

That's no planet . . . it's a space station!!

</ob. Star Wars>

Re:Power?

[An Onerous Coward]

"Unless they really like the idea of killing off 6.3 billion people so 100 million can live in relative comfort."

Actually, the GOP is looking into this one.

::ducks::

Kitten Power!

[Jonboy X]

It sure looks like the U.S. of A. is quickly running out of energy options acceptable to the general population. Recent pools have found that:

• Coal is dirty.
  
• Natural gas smells like farts
  
• Oil is controlled by those crazy people with the towels on their heads
  
• Wind power is for pansies
  
• Hydro will run out as soon as all the water has finished running downhill
  
• Nuclear causes explosions and mutants and makes baby Jesus cry
  

That's right, the only option that everyone agreed on was:

• Burning cute, cuddly kittens
  

They're adundant (check the animal shelters), cheap (they're just giving the things away) and renewable ("breeder reactor" = 2 cats in a box with some catnip and a Barry White CD). It just goes to show that, with a little ingenuity, we can solve even the worst crises.