quote:

Originally posted by Austin228:
Nuclear Energy can be done safely and efficiently, look to France, if we redid it here but with more layers of safety measures and regulations on what the plants would have to be in order to prevent dangers from a meltdown.

Also the USA has a huge under the mountain nuke waste depot already for storing waste that could store any amount of the current tiny pellets that nuke plants use.

quote:

Originally posted by sigalert:
How long has it been since a new reactor was approved in the US? 40 years? I can’t think of a single technology that hasn’t made huge advances in that time frame. I’d imagine new reactors would be smaller and safer.

I’m sure someone can chime in.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by Austin228:
Nuclear Energy can be done safely and efficiently, look to France, if we redid it here but with more layers of safety measures and regulations on what the plants would have to be in order to prevent dangers from a meltdown.

Also the USA has a huge under the mountain nuke waste depot already for storing waste that could store any amount of the current tiny pellets that nuke plants use.

France I believe only uses low enriched uranium (LEU), versus the US, which uses highly enriched uranium (HEU). HEU is necessary for weapons whereas, LEU doesn't have the dual-usage security concerns. The flip-side is you can get much longer usage from HEU cores, thus core changes are much more frequent with French reactors.

I'm not sure what France does with their nuclear energy that the US doesn't already do with regards to safety. One of the complaints that I've heard is US DOE and its regulatory agencies, makes innovation very restrictive, stiffling new ideas and burying progressive developments with overbearing administrative bureaucracy. I've heard lots of talk about utilizing Thorium and other source types, however much of the decision makers seem to be locked-in their beliefs that nuclear energy can only come from pressurized water reactors.