Gillette WY to build nuclear power plants

[YukonGold]

I will never understand why we're so obsessed with coal jobs. When the internet killed newspapers and magazines, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. When smartphones killed camera, film, and processing companies, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. Technological progress demands a shift in the labor force. Why should coal/oil be any different?

Oh yeah, because politics and $$$$

 

[TheDudeAbides]

I will never understand why we're so obsessed with coal jobs. When the internet killed newspapers and magazines, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. When smartphones killed camera, film, and processing companies, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. Technological progress demands a shift in the labor force. Why should coal/oil be any different?

Oh yeah, because politics and $$$$

Coal Miners are a different breed of people.

They work their asses off and have a sense of pride in their job.

Politics is not just money.

It is the people. The people vote.

Coal mining is seen positively in certain areas of the country and people will vote to preserve it.

 

[YukonGold]

Coal Miners are a different breed of people.

They work their asses off and have a sense of pride in their job.

The implication being that other laborers cannot work hard or take pride in their jobs. My family members who spent their careers pulling all-nighters at the printing presses would object to that.

 

[Chama Grande]

I'm pro 'energy diversification' across the board in areas where it makes sense, and I highly recommend adding the link below to your daily internet surfing. See below the grid output near Phoenix. Solar ramps up in the day as natural gas winds down, and then the reverse at night. That ever steady line at the top is the nuclear plant that provides the baseload for the entire system. The smaller brown line is the coal plant output which compliments the natural gas output. All of these working together are used to meet the demands of the local grid, and when they generate too much, they are able to sell to neighboring states in real time. The orchestration of the grid is really fascinating

If it all came from coal I think the air quality would be absolute trash all the time, and I'm glad we have a diversified approach

https://www.eia.gov/electricity/gridmonitor/dashboard/electric_overview/balancing_authority/SRP

 

[307]

I will never understand why we're so obsessed with coal jobs. When the internet killed newspapers and magazines, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. When smartphones killed camera, film, and processing companies, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. Technological progress demands a shift in the labor force. Why should coal/oil be any different?

Oh yeah, because politics and $$$$

Culture things aren't always very logical.

If the newspaper printers had a bunch of country songs written about them, they'd have had a much better chance...

 

[JLDemo]

That is not how radiation generally works.

If it was true, then the sun would case more random genetic effects.

This thought comes from movies like the incredible hulk.

Most often when we are exposed to ionizing radiation (Food, The Sun, Radon, Smoking, Pollution) our bodies repair any damage that occurs.

When our bodies can't repair the damage it can result in cell death or cancer.

The mutations common in movies are playing on the fear of radiation, but the reality is our bodies are amazing at catching errors in the genetic code and repairing them with enzymes.

The reality is, if mutations like this occurred then sunburns or household Radon would radically change physical appearances of people giving them third arms or the such.

Most chronic radiation exposure (low levels over a long time) does not have any more significant effect than other lifestyle choices (diet, exercise, chemical exposure, etc).

Acute (high levels over a short period) are extremely rare. You would need something like 1,000 dental x rays to meet your annual dosage.

In the US the limit is 50 mSv per year and a dental x ray is 0.005 mSV.

Most people get 1.5 - 3.5 mSv per year with background radiation (about a 1/3 due to Radon).

You would have to do something really stupid to be acutely exposed to radiation or piss off the Russian government.

Nerd.

 

[TOGIE]

Nerd.

more like buzz killington

 

[SAJ-99]

Coal Miners are a different breed of people.

They work their asses off and have a sense of pride in their job.

Politics is not just money.

It is the people. The people vote.

Coal mining is seen positively in certain areas of the country and people will vote to preserve it.

They also die at a high rate. I have known a few coal miners in my younger days and I don't doubt any of them would chosen a different job in a heartbeat if the opportunity presented itself. As for Politics not being about money, the CEOs of coal companies might be disappointed to hear that.

 

[R.K.]

The only reason you need refined uranium is because the US government limited reactor designs to anything that could produce plutonium, so they could harvest it and make nuclear munitions. Plutonium is a by product of the enriched uranium fission in the fuel rod design reactors- which are incomprehensibly obsolete. Hell, they were obsolete in the 60s.

We don’t need plutonium. We don’t need fuel rod reactors. Liquid salt reactors are essentially meltdown-proof. Thorium reactors recycle waste to elements that have a half life fractions of standard uranium-rod designs. We have technology to do it safely, with minimal environmental implications.

We can build it safely. We can build it to not be eternally radioactive. We can build it to use more common materials. We can build it to use safer material. But we haven’t been allowed to because everyone hears nuclear and thinks bombs, Soviet stupidity, and 3 mile island, and the government prioritized its own nuclear arsenal over the safety of the population, as well as the oil and gas lobbying gravy train over the best interest of the citizens of the nation.

Modern nuclear reactors are the only way to get your energy at a reasonable price without destroying vast expanses of land. Until we can build a Dyson Sphere, this is what we’re stuck with.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

The implication being that other laborers cannot work hard or take pride in their jobs. My family members who spent their careers pulling all-nighters at the printing presses would object to that.

Not that others cannot have pride in their job.

The point was Coal Miners are a completely different breed of people when it comes to that

 

[Gr8bawana]

Why.

Especially if you place it below the water table.

Let it sit in a cavern in a steel drum for eternity.

Nuclear waste buried underground is not that big of a deal.

Water, Lead, Steel, Concrete, etc are all used to shield radiation.

1000's of feet of dirt is more than enough to block radioactive isotopes.

If you are worried about it radiating in the water supply, then I have some bad news for you.

Many imported food products are irradiated and there are many foods that contain radioactive isotopes.

Bananas, Beer, Gatorade, etc

Like, it is not a huge issue to have drums of this stuff in abandoned underground mines and then seal off the entries as they get full.

It can be there for eternity causing no harm to any plants, humans, or animals.

You are welcome to keep all of it in Wyoming.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

You are welcome to keep all of it in Wyoming.

View attachment 324355

Nice Halloween Decoration.

This is how they actually are stored from Google.

 

[BigHornRam]

Nuclear Power plants have security, probably one of the safer installations.

Off shore oil rigs, solar farms, oil refineries, natural gas pipelines, oil pipelines, etc have no where near the security of a nuclear power plant.

There are also fail safes as well. If something happens it shuts the reactor down.

My point was about the "micro" reactors. You need security 24/7 if it is a 10 mega watt reactor or 1000 mega watt. That costs money. So the micro reactor idea is a joke.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

My point was about the "micro" reactors. You need security 24/7 if it is a 10 mega watt reactor or 1000 mega watt. That costs money. So the micro reactor idea is a joke.

The idea for micro reactors is the ability to have many small ones in parallel rather than one to four massive ones. That enables you to be able to have smaller more cost-effective containment areas rather than multi hundreds of millions of dollars in containment features of the old traditional reactors.

Like having twenty dogs pulling a sled instead of three horse if you will

 

[R.K.]

The idea for micro reactors is the ability to have many small ones in parallel rather than one to four massive ones. That enables you to be able to have smaller more cost-effective containment areas rather than multi hundreds of millions of dollars in containment features of the old traditional reactors.

Like having twenty dogs pulling a sled instead of three horse if you will

Also helps with reliability- you can cycle the maintenance downtime on them and maintain power output.

 

[Nick87]

I will never understand why we're so obsessed with coal jobs. When the internet killed newspapers and magazines, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. When smartphones killed camera, film, and processing companies, nobody cared about the loss of jobs. Technological progress demands a shift in the labor force. Why should coal/oil be any different?

Oh yeah, because politics and $$$$

Probably because none of those jobs were lost due to government mandates, just a guess.

 

[44hunter45]

View attachment 324282

ETFs!!!

 

[mtmiller]

Probably because none of those jobs were lost due to government mandates, just a guess.

...or fracking?

 

[Nick87]

...or fracking?

I was just responding to those that he posted. Before you go all Hillary on me I've got no problem with nuclear (other than the threat of an attack on a nuclear plant). I can see one on a clear night from my place. Beats the hell out of all the solar shit we're putting up everywhere around here, where large parcels are completely fenced off and then sprayed with round up down to nothing.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

My point was about the "micro" reactors. You need security 24/7 if it is a 10 mega watt reactor or 1000 mega watt. That costs money. So the micro reactor idea is a joke.

A couple salaried or hourly positions and the ability to lock down the facility and call in local PD should be fine.

Gold Mines literally transport millions of dollars in gold bars in brinks trucks, they have armed security.

You do not need the national guard on stand by for every nuclear facility.

I think you are overstating the potential threat.

There are nuclear plants in India and Pakistan, Al Qaeda, The Taliban, or other extremist groups are in closer proximity and it is really not a big issue.

91 incidents in the period from 1970 - 2020 on nuclear power plants with 42 being in Western Europe.

Here is an interesting article on it

50 Years of Terrorism against the Nuclear Industry: A Review of 91 Incidents in the Global Terrorism Database

The on-going Russo-Ukrainian war has resulted in a renewed global interest in the safety and security of nuclear installations and the possibility of nuclear disasters caused by warfare and terrorism.The objective of this study was to identify and characterize ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Ninety-one incidents that occurred from 1970 through 2020 were included. Incidents took place in 25 countries and nine world regions, with most (42; 46.1%) occurring in Western Europe.
During these 50 years, 91 incidents resulted in 19 fatalities and 117 injuries. One perpetrator was killed during an incident and one other assailant was injured.
Bombings and explosions were the most frequently identified attack type (n = 40; 44.0%), followed by facility/infrastructure damage (n = 24; 26.4%) and armed assaults and assassinations (both n = 7; 7.7%).
Nuclear power plants and reactors under construction were targeted in 13 (14.3%) and eight (8.8%) incidents, respectively. Most of the attacks took place on other nuclear industry-related sites.

Conclusion:​

Terrorist attacks carried out by non-state perpetrators against nuclear facilities, nuclear scientists, nuclear transport, and other nuclear industry-related targets are rare, with only 91 incidents in a 50-year period. None of the attacks resulted in radioactive fallout or environmental contamination. Most of the attacks took place outside a nuclear power plant.