NPR Story on the Future of Nuclear Power

deeptrace writes "The Living on Earth show on NPR recently had a segment on the future of Nuclear Energy. The nearly hour long show is available as an mp3 and in transcript form. It talks about hot fusion, cold fusion, and Pebble Bed Reactors. It provides a well balanced and informative overview of progress towards their use for future nuclear power generation. Most interestingly, they talk with Dr. Pamela Boss and Dr. Stanislaw Szpak at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego. Dr. Szpak says of their cold fusion experiments: 'We have 100 percent reproducible results'."

Comments

Of Astronauts and rods

[BadAnalogyGuy]

NASA's done some great things. They've given us Tang and Velcro. They've popped water balloons on the Shuttle. And they've put a big old American flag on the Moon. It's a shame that they have gotten to be the butt of so many jokes in recent years due to their continuing mismanagement and crappy safety record.

But look at it from the perspective of the astronauts. You know that there is a non-zero risk of exploding in a bright flash and becoming a spectacle on the evening news. You know that NASA really hasn't fixed anything relevant to the problems of the previous Shuttle disasters. And you know that you'll be just as forgotten as the other astronauts once NASA blows up the next Shuttle flight after yours.

But it's space! Only a handful of people have ever gone up there. It's something that you train hard for and long for, because despite the risks and odds, the payoff is just too great to ignore.

Does nuclear power also have that same ability to pay off in spades? The risks are well known. It's like putting a revolver to your head, but you know what? 5 out of 6 times, that hammer's just going to click and nothing's going to happen.

Re:Pebble Bed reactors

[wolff000]

"It would seem that this could kill several birds with one stone - "cleaner" electricity production, a source of hydrogen for motor vehicles and the possibility to make sea water domestically usable. Those seem like massive upsides, what are the downsides?"

I guess you haven't been to Chernobyl lately. The down sides to any nuclear power is its nuclear. It could blow and take a whole lot with it. Not too mention no matter how clean the process you are still going to end up with some nuclear waste that has to be disposed of. I think nuclear is the way of the future we just have to get the kinks worked out. I can see it now Chernobyl 2: When Earthworms Attack. Hopefully that won't happen but it would make a great B movie.

The REAL Solution!

[kibbled_bits]

We should turn off all energy plants, stop burning fossil fuels then find a cave or tree to cling on to and eat bark for the rest of our lives. :-|

Re:The REAL Solution!

[oliverthered]

You don't need to do that, all you need to do is reduce the population of the planet until renewable energy sources can provide enough energy for everyone.

Re:Pebble Bed reactors

[Anonymous Coward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium#Precautions

Plutonium is no more toxic than anything else we expose ourselves to every day.

Actually...

[Frangible]

The fact the pebble bed reactors are in South Africa also implies the disposal solution: Africa. People would complain if you buried the waste in Antartica, the desert, or even the sun. But Africa? No one would care. It's really the perfect place, politically, to store nuclear waste. New Orleans comes in a close second, as the American public stopped caring about it months ago.

Another good idea that would probably rival cold fusion for efficiency is hamsters, wheels, a turbine, and crystal meth. Animals are 80%+ effecient in converting energy to force, which is far better than the 10-12% of artificial systems. The crystal meth would even be free, since they're still brewing massive quantites of it as Americans need something more powerful than caffeine to keep them awake to work their 2-3 jobs to make ends meet in our spiffy new minimum wage service economy. The only waste here would be hamster shit, but you could probably sell that to hippies at a good food store. Or maybe make a super-coffee out of it from the unexchanged meth. Clearly, great potential regardless.

Re:Pebble Bed reactors

[flyinwhitey]

Provide some EVIDENCE or shut up, you've been corrected three separate times, and all three times your response was essentially

"Nu-uh, I know better"

Well you don't know better, as has been demonstrated. So post your proof or stop engaging in wild ass speculation and naysaying.