Kevan Smith > wrote:
> > Comparably, nuclear power is much cleaner and better for the air and water --
> > you should be glad your grid contains nuclear power plants.
>
> What will be done with all the radioactive waste? That stuff has the
> capability to kill tens of thousands of years into the future. Our
> government can't even handle a hurricane disaster, so why should I trust
> them with radioactive waste?
From the link I gave you:
A nuclear fuel pellet contains a lot of energy. One uranium nuclear fuel pellet the size of the tip of your little finger is equivalent to the energy provided by 1,780 pounds of coal; or 149 gallons of oil, as much oil as fits in three 50 gallon drums; or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The energy is released inside the reactor through fission?the splitting of uranium atoms in a chain reaction. In the nuclear plant, the heat energy produced boils water into steam, which drives a turbine generator to produce electricity.
High energy means a small volume of used fuel. Every 12-24 months, U.S. plants are shut down and the oldest fuel assemblies are removed and replaced. All of the country's nuclear power plants together produce about 2,000 metric tons of used fuel annually. To put this in perspective, all the used fuel produced to date by the U.S. nuclear energy industry in more than 40 years of operation?some 40,000 metric tons?would cover an area the size of a football field to a depth of about five yards, if the fuel assemblies were stacked side by side and laid end to end.
http://www.nei.org/index.asp?catnum=2&catid=62
How long would the same volume (football field, five yards high) of lignite last at your local plant? Not nearly as long as a little uranium pellet would last at a nuclear power plant. Further, what's the volume of emissions -- greenhouse gases, sulfur, methylmercury, etc. -- from burning lignite at just your one local plant? Do you weigh any of that pollution -- which *ALREADY* affects and kills people (lung cancer in coal miners, lung disease and cancer in the general population, asthma, etc.) -- against the tiny bit of radioactive waste which provides a lot more power? Why are you more concerned about your irrational hypotheticals (nobody is dying from nuclear power) when your current consumption, at least as far as your ignorance is concerned, is derived from a source which is linked to many deaths already?
You're displaying the same silly, girlish emotional appeals on this issue as you've done when railing against meat consumption. No surprise. Lefists like to delude themselves. You're doing quite well, moron.