"I have a mind like a steel... uh... thingy." Patrick Logan's weblog.

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Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Nukes

Ted Leung points to a rosy article in Wired about pebble-bed nuclear reactors as a "safe" way out of the energy crisis.

Even if this approach is safer, is it safe?

The article does not address a couple of, well, problems:

  • Security ("dirty" bombs, anyone?)
  • Waste Management.
Oh, the article *does* address waste management...
And with the fuel sealed inside layers of graphite and impermeable silicon carbide - designed to last 1 million years - there's no steaming pool for spent fuel rods. Depleted balls can go straight into lead-lined steel bins in the basement.
Looking around at our world's politics, not to mention science, I have to sigh just a little at the phrase "designed to last 1 million years". We have no true concept of this.

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About Me

Portland, Oregon, United States
I'm usually writing from my favorite location on the planet, the pacific northwest of the u.s. I write for myself only and unless otherwise specified my posts here should not be taken as representing an official position of my employer. Contact me at my gee mail account, username patrickdlogan.