Political Crossfire Forums

Ssushi · Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 6198

What does everyone think to the current nuclear power debate? Are you in favour or not?

I'm a little undecided, on the one hand I think nuclear power is a good option, yet on the other I simply don't trust people to run it properly.

I heard on the radio the other day that there was opposition to a wind farm as it was endagering some birds who kept on flying into the blades. People oppose everything!

Over here in the Netherlands, there are wind farms everywhere! I can change my electricity supplier to the wind farm companies and the cost is more or less the same as a standard suplier. Where are Britains wind farms?

In Sweden, you must pay to have your waste taken away and disposed of correctly. A company charges to do this, then burns the waste and charges you for the subsequent hot water delivered direct to your house - where's Britains waste / power system?

This situation really pisses me off!

antonio62 · Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 6:10 am Post subject:

Nuclear power is the only way of generating electricity just now. Wind and wave only give power at certain times meaning that sometimes they produce no electricity and that means we have major blackouts everywhere if it makes up a large amount of our electricity production. You can only have around 5% or 6% made up of wind and wave power. They are also very expensive to install and very inefficient. They've found in Germany that they are only getting 25% the electricity they thought they were going to get with it and have scrapped wind power as an idea. Other renewable sources aren't really an option either. We cant use geothermal because we have no suitable places. Biomass would be ok but we would use a large area of ground to produce the trees necessary.

The two main fears people have about nuclear power are meltdowns and waste disposal. Waste disposal is really easy to solve you simple put it in a lead lined cave 500 feet underground. Meltdowns although terrible when they happen would be unbelievably unlikely to happen. It was already next to 0 chance they're would be a meltdown 20 years ago but now safety checks have moved on hugely and we are far more technologically advanced. So the chances are incredibly low.

The problem with burning rubbish is that a lot of it produces toxic fumes. Plastics need a lot of oxygen to burn properly and when your burning that level of plastics your going to end up with at least some carbon monoxide which is poisonous. Burning certain plastics can also produce other highly toxic gases such as hydrogen cyanide a form of which was used in the gas chambers during the holocaust and it may have been used as a chemical weapon. That being said burning natural products such as garden waste, fruit peelings and so on is a good idea.

Ssushi · Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 6198

antonio62 wrote: Nuclear power is the only way of generating electricity just now. Wind and wave only give power at certain times meaning that sometimes they produce no electricity and that means we have major blackouts everywhere if it makes up a large amount of our electricity production. You can only have around 5% or 6% made up of wind and wave power. They are also very expensive to install and very inefficient. They've found in Germany that they are only getting 25% the electricity they thought they were going to get with it and have scrapped wind power as an idea.

Quote: #1 Germany 16,628.8 MW

From nationmaster.

Thats a hell of a lot of power generated! I'm not saying it's the answer but I believe we should diversify and by trial and error aquire some knowledge of alternatives...

antonio62 · Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:00 am Post subject:

I know thye produce a lot but they have discovered it is ineffeciant and aren't bulding anymore.

Ssushi · Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 6198

antonio62 wrote: I know thye produce a lot but they have discovered it is ineffeciant and aren't bulding anymore.

That's interesting, the Netherlands is still ivesting in them. I presume it's more windy here...

DSwain · Joined: 09 Jun 2006 Posts: 3552

I'm in favour of nuclear and welcome the verdict of the energy review. Nuclear can play a significant role in our future energy needs while we explore further the potential and efficacy of renewables.

bob.appleyard · Joined: 15 Oct 2005 Posts: 7478 Location: Manchestar, innit

My view on this is to up nuclear power, introduce coal-derived hydrogen plants, and up renewable energy. This should go along with serious attempts at energy efficiency, such as getting new buildings to actually follow regs.