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From	Message
grege79 21-Mar-11, 13:24	Nuclear power? I think it was considered that nuclear power was going to be a good transitional source whilst further renewable tech was developed and the last dollars were squeezed out of oil and gas, though I don't think we will run out in a hurry. But a big spanner in the works now, Germany just announced it is abandoning nuclear power, and I think the Japanese may have a few issues moving forward. Is the tech still safe? If there is widespread misinformation, I think then we really may have an energy crisis.
shamash 21-Mar-11, 13:34	the future of nuclear The futurists had said that our future of controllably-safe, unlimited atomic energy would come from fusion reactors, not from perilous fission reactors.
mo-oneandmore 21-Mar-11, 15:06	Safe? Nuclear energy certainly has a better safety track record than fossil fuel mining and burning. Even with Chernobyl, it's doubtful that Nuclear energy has year-to-year matched the death and destruction of fossil energy production. Fusion talk needs a breather, because it may never be possible. At best, it's far into the future.
ace-of-aces 21-Mar-11, 21:35	Because of the nuclear disaster in Japan, there will be a brake on nuclear power in the near future just like oil spill disater in the gulf of Mexico offshore oil drilling wil be on hold. Recently there are a lot of natural gas finds in shale rock in USA. With the new extraction methods called cracking where heated water and chemicals are pumped into the ground to the shale rocks gas can be recovered. The problem is underground water pollution and environmental safety. Anyway, I believe more gas fired electric power stations will be built instead of coal.
grege79 22-Mar-11, 00:51	I think there will be a kneejerk reaction to it, and politicians like to be popular. But I don't know that fusion power is as much of a pipe dream though, I have been following a fusion reactor they are building in Korea, en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org 2040 is some time away, and undoubtably there will be delays, but 2040 is only 30 years in to the future. I would comfortably predict commercial fusion within 50 years, not on a large scale, but moving forward after that it will be a swift transition. Though it does remind me of a story by E.E. Doc Smith, I think it was his final book in the Lensman series, it was in regards to fusion power and some safety issues surrounding it. All sci-fi, but was still a good read.
grege79 22-Mar-11, 01:00	But I read some interesting stats comparing the amount of deaths due to wind generators comparing it to fission. www.wind-works.org The fission stats state they are the lowest. I don't know about the reliability of the source, but I bet that fission is about to launch a media blitz. Not directly, but get ready for a lot of positive pieces.. But justifiably in my mind.
itchynscratchy 22-Mar-11, 03:28	the xkcd blog produced a very good chart detailing what different radiation exposures equate to: xkcd.com Distance has an inverse square effect on dose, so a dose of 400mSv at the site (which was quoted by all the media outlets) reduces to harmless doses quite quickly. ''I think there will be a kneejerk reaction to it, and politicians like to be popular.'' This really worries me. The public will be influenced by the media to fear nuclear power, and the politicians will not be brave enough to refuse.
mo-oneandmore 22-Mar-11, 06:26	Deleted by mo-oneandmore on 22-Mar-11, 06:28.
mo-oneandmore 22-Mar-11, 06:28	Deleted by mo-oneandmore on 22-Mar-11, 06:35.
mo-oneandmore 22-Mar-11, 06:43	itchy Esactly The problem is that the people will hear a sensational story instead of a "not-interesting" story about the over-all dangers or relative safety of Nuclear power generation. We will be told about the dangers of "eating a piece of rod" rather than hear about the lives of those who live 30 or so miles from the reactor; and then the politico's will "grab-on" to grow their own agenda.

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