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Tesla Turns Power Back On At Children's Hospital In Puerto Rico (npr.org)
Elon Musk took to Instagram yesterday to announce the "first of many solar+battery Tesla projects going live in Puerto Rico." Tesla has used its solar panels and batteries to restore reliable electricity at San Juan's Hospital del Nino (Children's Hospital) after the country was devastated by two powerful hurricanes in September. NPR reports: Musk's company announced its success in getting the hospital's power working again less than three weeks after Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello tweeted on Oct. 6, "Great initial conversation with @elonmusk tonight. Teams are now talking; exploring opportunities." Tesla's image of the project's solar array, in a parking lot next to the hospital, has been liked more than 84,000 times since it was posted to Instagram Tuesday. The hospital's new system allows it to generate all the energy it needs, according to El Nuevo Dia. The facility has 35 permanent residents with chronic conditions; it also offers services to some 3,000 young patients, the newspaper says. As for who is paying for the power system, the head of the hospital tells Nuevo Dia that for now, it's a donation -- and that after the energy crisis is over, a deal could make it permanent. Both Rossello and the tech company tweeted about the project this week, with Tesla saying in a post, "Grateful to support the recovery of Puerto Rico with @ricardorossello" -- and Rossello stating, "A major contribution of @Tesla to the Hospital del Nino."
Here's an aerial video of Puerto Rico's Wind/Solar remains after the hurricane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Technically, reprocessing is not a rate limiting step in nuclear power generation. There's more than enough natural uranium for the current world's needs.
I actually know a geologist who worked on that project. Was a German fellow, so he didn't care too much about the politics of the situation.
His take was that the site is and will continue to be geologically stable for many 1000's of years.
The big concern was that the rock which makes up the thing is hard and has many fractures. This allows a relatively rapid transfer or rain water to seep through to the aquifer below.
The containers themselves by regulation must last between 300-1000 years. Of course in 100 years, the company that made them will be long, long, long out of business so if they should fail at 250 or even 299 years, it's not like anyone would be around spank them.
Statistically, it is likely we would see at least 1 or two barrels which will fail at the lower end of the spectrum and start leaking. Do these things break catastrophically? I have no clue. I would assume they just develop small leaks which increase over time as the base material gets exposed to the radioactive elements and moisture.
If you are not an expert, it is down to who you believe.
The DOE says, hey...everything is fine and even when the containers fail (and they will) it will take a super long time to pollute the water and even then, we think it is an acceptable level of pollution.
The NV State scientists say, no no no, due to the properties of the underlying rock, we calculate that should a barrel leak, the ground water will be polluted to a deadly level in about 1000 years.
I have no idea who is actually correct. In general though, humans are pretty crap about thinking 10 years into the future let alone 1000. I could imagine that many folks would say..meh...that's like 1000 years from now! For sure we will have thought of something to fix it by then.
Maybe we will have. Maybe we wont. Maybe we will have been killed off by then. If that's the case, I hope all the barrels leaks and kills who ever takes over the planet.
Well, we would but don't actually have any idea who they are...
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
It looks like they have very competitive rates and minimal initial payment, and were one of two bidders on the contract. As much as I thought there was a scandal there... it doesn't seem to be the case. I don't know how they are getting linemen at less than $400/day plus accommodation... but they have 300 in place and more on the way. (They are one of many contractors working on different parts of the project to restore power.)
People don't seem to understand the magnitude of the problem when complaining.
source.