Quote:
Originally Posted by kscherer
2) We need nuclear wherever it fits, but too much government oversight has made it too expensive. Let's work on that!
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I'm gonna stop you right there.
Nuclear power is expensive in comparison to fossil fuel, etc, only because nuclear is the only energy source that is required to pony up for the clean up up front.
If fossil fuel companies were similarly required to pay for the CO2 scrubbing, nuclear would be a goddamned bargain in comparison. And guess what... they should be required to do so. When you piss on the floor, you get to clean it up.
The disaster in TX this week is because government opted out of oversight, and instead of requiring the utilities to invest a minimum into weatherization, at *all*, they trusted in the invisible hand, and got roundly bitch-slapped by it.
Now, take that same proven ginormous level of irresponsibility and apply it to an industry where if you spill a tank of leftovers, you can kiss inhabiting that area goodbye for 10k years. Yeah, sorry, I don't trust the sociopaths running these utilities to do the right thing. Ever.
There is absolutely room for discussion about modifying the regulations to not only allow but encourage more modern reactor technologies that result in lower-grade and lower-life waste, but that's a policy derived from the decision in the 50s to push reactor designs that required fuel purified on equipment suitable for bomb making. Fast breeder reactors, thorium piles... there are some great approaches out there that are ready to go to scale, if only they were allowed on US soil.
But reducing *oversight*? Jesus, man, are you nuts?