<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><!-- generator="wordpress/2.3.1" -->
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	>
<channel>
	<title>Comments on: Cheap &#8220;Nulcear Fusion&#8221; vs. VERY Expensive Nuclear Fission</title>
	<link>http://darryl.sustainablewnc.org/wp/2008/06/26/cheap-nulcear-fusion-vs-very-expensive-nuclear-fission/</link>
	<description>Just another Sustainablewnc.org weblog</description>
	<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:48:02 +0000</pubDate>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>By: Tim Gray</title>
		<link>http://darryl.sustainablewnc.org/wp/2008/06/26/cheap-nulcear-fusion-vs-very-expensive-nuclear-fission/#comment-61</link>
		<dc:creator>Tim Gray</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:15:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://darryl.sustainablewnc.org/wp/2008/06/26/cheap-nulcear-fusion-vs-very-expensive-nuclear-fission/#comment-61</guid>
		<description>check out http://www.generalfusion.com/ for a less expensive nuclear option...  maybe not as far along as Nanosolar, but still interesting...</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>check out <a href="http://www.generalfusion.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.generalfusion.com/</a> for a less expensive nuclear option&#8230;  maybe not as far along as Nanosolar, but still interesting&#8230;</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
	<item>
		<title>By: Orion</title>
		<link>http://darryl.sustainablewnc.org/wp/2008/06/26/cheap-nulcear-fusion-vs-very-expensive-nuclear-fission/#comment-60</link>
		<dc:creator>Orion</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:28:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid>http://darryl.sustainablewnc.org/wp/2008/06/26/cheap-nulcear-fusion-vs-very-expensive-nuclear-fission/#comment-60</guid>
		<description>"Just one of these $1.65 million dollar thin film printing devices from Nanosolar can print a billion watts of solar collectors per year adding that much new capacity to the grid each year that it’s outputting produ"

Not quite.  Even leaving aside the fact that we don't mine enough raw materials annually to make all that nanoparticle ink, you have to mount those sheets on something farily rigid to prevent the wind from tearing them to ribbons.  Currently that's aluminum or wooden panels but in the future they're talking about using all kinds of materials, like roofing tiles.  Nevertheless that material has to come from somewhere and solar power farms are HUGE.  The resources needed to build an 800MW PV plant are several times those needed to build a nuclear power plant and there's simply no comparing the relative footprint of a PV plant to a nuke plant.  Space-based solar power plants would be ideal though still out of our reach for the next 50-100 years or so.  NASA estimated the cost as over $100 Billion dollars per plant in 1979 dollars.  We've some ideas but they're nowhere near ready to implement.  

All current nuclear power plants are based on designs prepared in the 1950s.  Back then when we wanted to make power we boiled water to make steam and drive a turbine:  Engineers just replaced the boilers with fission rods and added cooling towers so they didn't have to dump the now-radiactive discharge water back in the rivers.  It turns out that was an absolutely stupid way to use atomic power and modern reactor designs are much lighter, cheaper to build, and far more efficient.  Even mentioning Chernobyl as a reason not to use nuclear power should rate a horsewhipping - no one but the Stalin-era Soviets were ever stupid enough to build something like that.

Bottom line is we're going to need nuclear power as a bridge to whatever "green" energy technology we finally arrive at.  No matter how many miles of solar panels we can build per year there's a problem assembling all those PV plants that we'll need.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Just one of these $1.65 million dollar thin film printing devices from Nanosolar can print a billion watts of solar collectors per year adding that much new capacity to the grid each year that it’s outputting produ&#8221;</p>
<p>Not quite.  Even leaving aside the fact that we don&#8217;t mine enough raw materials annually to make all that nanoparticle ink, you have to mount those sheets on something farily rigid to prevent the wind from tearing them to ribbons.  Currently that&#8217;s aluminum or wooden panels but in the future they&#8217;re talking about using all kinds of materials, like roofing tiles.  Nevertheless that material has to come from somewhere and solar power farms are HUGE.  The resources needed to build an 800MW PV plant are several times those needed to build a nuclear power plant and there&#8217;s simply no comparing the relative footprint of a PV plant to a nuke plant.  Space-based solar power plants would be ideal though still out of our reach for the next 50-100 years or so.  NASA estimated the cost as over $100 Billion dollars per plant in 1979 dollars.  We&#8217;ve some ideas but they&#8217;re nowhere near ready to implement.  </p>
<p>All current nuclear power plants are based on designs prepared in the 1950s.  Back then when we wanted to make power we boiled water to make steam and drive a turbine:  Engineers just replaced the boilers with fission rods and added cooling towers so they didn&#8217;t have to dump the now-radiactive discharge water back in the rivers.  It turns out that was an absolutely stupid way to use atomic power and modern reactor designs are much lighter, cheaper to build, and far more efficient.  Even mentioning Chernobyl as a reason not to use nuclear power should rate a horsewhipping - no one but the Stalin-era Soviets were ever stupid enough to build something like that.</p>
<p>Bottom line is we&#8217;re going to need nuclear power as a bridge to whatever &#8220;green&#8221; energy technology we finally arrive at.  No matter how many miles of solar panels we can build per year there&#8217;s a problem assembling all those PV plants that we&#8217;ll need.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
	</item>
</channel>
</rss>
