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If any country has a chance at implementing nuclear power on a widespread scale, I think it's China. In America, the primary reason we don't use nuclear power i
by dejawu 12y ago
If any country has a chance at implementing nuclear power on a widespread scale, I think it's China. In America, the primary reason we don't use nuclear power is driven primarily by the negative perception and fear of the word "nuclear" (with a bit of help from the fossil fuel lobbies). One of the advantages of the one-party state is if the party wants something done, that thing will get done, no ifs, ands, or buts. China's rail network is an excellent example of this (and that's another thing we've failed to implement stateside due to political gridlock). Should China decide that nuclear is the way to go, then it will be done.
- not_that_noob 12y agoYes, we all saw how well this worked at Chernobyl. Single party rule - no ifs, ands, buts or coconuts. There's no subsitute for democracy and people holding their governments accountable.
- venomsnake 12y agoAnd chernobil is not a big deal. We could have one per year and the damage to planet will be less than current fossil fuels.
- steve-howard 12y agoWe've learned a lot from and since Chernobyl. Chernobyl came about because the people running the plant made a string of willfully stupid decisions to try out a safety feature for the plant. This isn't to say that democracy isn't superior to single-party rule, but that no one would invest in building a modern nuclear reactor and play fast and loose with safety procedures.
- guscost 12y agoArguably the people who built Chernobyl also made a willfully stupid decision to leave out passive safety features: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_nuclear_safety http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_nuclear_safety
- gscott 12y agoChina is working on breeder and other reactors they are at the forfront of nuclear power technology... they have 24 in operation and another 25 being built... http://world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/China--Nuclear-Power/ http://world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F...
- virmundi 12y agoI've been wondering about applying nuclear in non-traditional locations. I wonder if CSX could get a compact breeder for trains. Same thing for super tankers. No more diesel. Just clean, safe, semi-renewable nuclear.
- superuser2 12y agoIf you can't get political approval to build a nuclear reactor in a building, you're definitely not getting approval to put it on a train. Trains crash a hell of a lot more frequently than buildings.