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How about we put the reactors in the middle of the desert, then there is no danget of killing a city and no risk of nuclear material leaking into the sea. You r
by desuyone 8y ago
How about we put the reactors in the middle of the desert, then there is no danget of killing a city and no risk of nuclear material leaking into the sea. You really don't need that many people to staff a reactor and if you really do, you can always build a train so people don't need to live close. I know power transmission is an issue. But we have gotten a lot better at that as well, with things like that big DC underwater powerline from scandinavia to the middle of europe.
- djakjxnanjak 8y agoIs the resistance to nuclear power mostly at the state/local level or is there also a lot of federal opposition? I wonder if some western state with unpopulated land could make a lot of money by doing a huge nuclear project and sell the power to California with UHV lines. The politics seem kind of similar to pipeline projects, but the ultimate goal would be to save the earth rather than burn it down so maybe there would be less opposition. Maybe you could even generate enough energy and wealth to convert some legacy fossil fuel businesses (and the politicians they own).
- pfdietz 8y agoThe resistance is from those being asked to pay for it.
- djakjxnanjak 8y agoSeems like many of the costs are design and management overhead that would probably be less of an issue at larger scale?
- tathougies 8y ago> I wonder if some western state with unpopulated land could make a lot of money by doing a huge nuclear project and sell the power to California with UHV lines. You mean California? California is mostly empty, unused space.
- pfdietz 8y ago| How about we put the reactors in the middle of the desert, How are you proposing to cool them? Remember, 2/3rd of the fission energy in an LWR goes out as low temperature waste heat.
- jacques_chester 8y ago> How about we put the reactors in the middle of the desert Nuclear reactors, much like other kinds of industrial power stations, require enormous amounts of water for cooling towers. They don't put them next to rivers because it looks cool.
- gwbas1c 8y agoDeserts get cold at night, and some even have rain. (Just go to Burning Man!) I suspect someone could figure out some kind of a heat sink that works without lots of fresh water.
- jacques_chester 8y agoMaybe they could. But water is much better at carrying waste heat and the population centres demanding electricity tend to be close to rivers and lakes anyhow.
- mhermher 8y agoHow about uninhabited islands. Access to plenty of water for cooling and away from population centers.