Published: April 24th, 2012 at 8:43 am ET
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Title: Phasing out nuclear
Source: The Washington Post
Author: Editorial Board
Date: April 22, 2012
Emphasis Added
[...Japan's] government worries that the electrical system will fail during peak summer demand if utilities don’t switch on reactors. The Financial Times’ Gerrit Wiesmann reports a similar situation in Germany, which has committed to closing all of its reactors, even as its power grid teeters [See: Germany NOT restarting nuclear reactors due to cold as widely reported -- In fact, now "massively exporting electricity" to help nuclear-powered France this winter -Reuters]
[...]
anti-nuclear activists justify this mess by insisting that renewable energy sources will pick up the slack. But that raises major questions of feasibility and cost.
[...]
Advocates of green energy point out that Germany already derives more of its electricity from renewables than Japan because of hefty government subsidies. [No mention that the nuclear power industry is backed by massive government subsidies.]
[...]
Following the scary but ultimately non-catastrophic Fukushima nuclear crisis, every country with a reactor had reason to review the safety of its existing facilities and the integrity of its regulatory systems. But prudence demanded then and now that they not abandon the power source precipitously. Maintaining existing reactors — and, we would argue, including next-generation nuclear technology as a component in forward-looking anti-carbon policies [Fact Check: 'Fantasy' plans of doubling nuclear capacity would cut global carbon emissions by just 4 percent -- Need one new plant each week for two decades]— doesn’t rule out a promising future for renewables, too. But it does make it much more likely that emissions goals can be met or exceeded.
Editorials represent the views of The Washington Post as an institution, as determined through debate among members of the editorial board
Read the editorial here
Have questions about The Washington Post’s content or practices? Contact the ombudsman
Published: April 24th, 2012 at 8:43 am ET
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sending...
Truth on both sides of the concern. We must move toward the shutdown of nuclear power. We need to build alternative energy sources, and not quick fix highly polluting coal plants, as well as move technology along to use energy more efficiently, but all this will take time and use energy which we need to supply using existing technology. Bottom line, we have great energy costs ahead. Nuclear power costs will continue long after we transition away from it, and savings from solar and wind clean energy, (which will only provide part of our needs) will be offset by the demands of cleaner use of fuels for additional power. Upgrades on the grid, and studies relating to the efficiency of scale (we have reached the point where bigger is not always better) need to be openly debated. The majority (democratic vote) is not always right, but they stand a better chance of information is freely available. We must stop the industry control of media and provide opportunity for public policy to actually involve the public.
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We will be stuck with the nuclear bill for as long as civilization exists. That waste doesn't protect itself for millions of years. Why wait to accumulate more waste and more accidents when we can shut them down asap? I'd rather have coal plants with the latest technology in the transition to a decentralized pure renewable energy grid than have to rely on nuclear one more day.
This article is pure and simple advertisement. That is it. Nothing more, nothing less. This piece was either written directly by an advertisement/PR company or the author was paid to write this or sign his name to it. This is just like those fake advertisements the "news" broadcasts as actual journalism. Advertisements masquerading as truth and journalism. We all know how truthful ad's are, right? Nuclear is not needed what-so-ever and each year it steals billions and billions of dollars in subsidies away from renewables. So actually having nuclear energy in operation, is killing the renewable market through limiting innovation and lowered costs through large-scale production. Nuclear is a perpetual money pit and no transition will be possible while they are still in operation. Hell in a real democracy, we would have never allowed them in the first place. It's more a democracy for those with the money to buy the politicians, which is gained through fraud anyway.
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…nailed it Bones! I especially enjoyed your point about amortization of renewables. They always extolled the virtues of mass marketing and 'bigger-is-better', yet they somehow forget to apply this principle to renewables. Could it be they're having trouble with the concept of decentralized energy systems?
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"the author was paid to write this or sign his name to it". Bones, there is no "he", and there is no author's name signed. The authors, collectively, are:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/writers/editorialboard/index.html
I would suggest looking into the bios in that link for pro-nuke ties or track record. It's a few hours of work if you're up for it, but it might pay off in useful information (or not).
WaPo itself has no obvious connection to nuke-world that I can find, although as ion jean suggests, WaPo is certainly at the heart of the Washington establishment.
From Muckety:
"Washington Post has direct or once-removed relationships with 633 people, organizations or other entities in our database of the most influential people in America. Under a scoring system that gives more weight to direct links, this score is higher than 99% of all entries."
http://www.muckety.com/Washington-Post/5002042.muckety
WaPo is the paper that uncovered the Watergate story though, so I would be reluctant to demonize them without evidence. Let's all find the evidence if we can!
… and yes, I agree, the editorial feels like an infomercial for the nuke industry. At best, it seems to contain a lot of sloppy reasoning that just happens to favor the industry.
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Here's an example of how one might learn more about the WaPo editorial board's agenda:
1. Start with the list of board members:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/writers/editorialboard/index.html
2. Each one has a biography posted. Choose one that looks promising. Here, for example, is the Editorial Page editor:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/fred-hiatt/2011/02/24/AB9dIXN_page.html
3. Choose some promising item from the biographical blurb. Here, for example, is a novel about Japan written by the Editorial Page editor:
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Sun-Novel-Japan/dp/0679413065
4. Digest what you find. Follow hunches. Look for patterns. Most of it will be irrelevant, but collect anything that seems significant. Here, for instance, is an excerpt from a review of the novel:
"This debut novel by a former Washington Post Tokyo bureau chief … manages to play upon American fears about increasing Japanese economic domination without engaging in some of the gratuitous Japan-bashing that's become so popular."
Oh, really?… Doesn't mean much by itself, but keep digging and digging, and digging. Pretend you're Woodward/Bernstein.
See what turns up. Share what you find.
Thanks!
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"MF Global Chief Who Oversaw Missing $1.2 Billion Also Top EPA Financial Adviser"
ttp://a4cgr.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/04-833/
Aigeezer, here's one back at ya! Thanks.
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HoTaters, your link got chopped a bit. It should be:
http://a4cgr.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/04-833/
Yes, the Abelow/Corzine mess is very smelly. I don't think it has a WaPo angle, but I could be wrong.
Here's an amazing and fascinating (but longish) account of it:
http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2012/02/jon-corzine-201202
Just when you get to thinking Corzine is the ultimate crony-capital villain, you read "he was one of the few senators who attempted to pressure the Bush administration to clamp down on regulation of the chemical and nuclear-power industries".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Corzine
Interesting stuff. Thanks for the link.
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Excellent comment. I couldn't agree more.
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Great Observation!
Expect the Nuclear Industry to start calling in all favors as their potential market share is reduced or "hopefully" eliminated by Solar (of all flavors) which cost less to build, are much faster to construct and have no nuclear RISK…
The USA cannot afford a Trillion Dollar Eco-Disaster like Fukushima!
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Agreed.
One point, though. The United States (and I assume you're talking about the U.S.) is a constitutional republic, not a democracy. (I'm kind of a stickler about this.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_republic
"The notion of the constitutional republic originates with Aristotle's Politics and his theory of a fifth type of government called the polity. He contrasts the polity of republican government with democracy and oligarchy in book 3, chapter 6 of Politics. Polity can refer to the political organizational system that is being used by a group, be it a tribe, a city-state, an empire, a corporation, etc. Aristotle also envisioned a polity to be a combination of what he thought were the best characteristics of oligarchy (rule by the wealthy) and democracy (rule by the poor). The polity government would be ruled by the many in the best interests of the country."
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AND people need to evalute the use of electric in homes/businesses..just fly cross country and see all the lighted homes/areas. Lots of places to SAVE..but power is also an industry, citizens PAY for the power..so to companies–more use is better..SAD! Wonder if some of the power companies with insurance for "disasters" of 300 Million USD per plant — even worry they may do a Fukushima. All we are told, living in the downwind shadow,–"no immediate danger."
hum..now where have we heard THAT before?
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Of course, they do!!!! DC is Nuke Party Central!
Let's all worry about "feasibility and cost"
Let's all worry about "emission goals"
Let's not be at all concerned with the health and safety of our children!
That's what the NRC does for us! By deciding for the People acceptable release levels and frequency without proper medical consultation or peer review!
By renewing every license extension request ever submitted to run deadly radionuclides through decayed, crumbling infrastructure and recklessly toss aside concern about evergrowing heaps of insufficiently contained radioactive waste!
Go, USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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@ion jean
"Go, USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Not to worry ion jean! We are already going and will soon be gone if the common spent fuel pool near #4 at Fukushima or any of our spent fuel pools burn. I wonder how WaPo came by such an editorial board? Straight from the nuclear power industry? If they don't consider 14 seriously damaged nuclear reactors in Japan including three meltdowns catastrophic, I wonder what it would take to impress them?
There must be "something in the air" in Washington, D.C. It appears to have already affected their brains.
On the other hand, this is about the kind of response one would expect from the usual suspects.
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I would think this article was either written by an advertising/PR company and passed off as journalism, as was done with Bush administration to sell the Iraq war among other agendas, or this "man" was paid by those people to write this or at least just sign his name to it. No different than the advertisements masquerading as journalistic reports on your evening news. Stealth advertising in areas that are supposed to be reserved for the truth and areas where people don't think as critically as they should. Most people still just accept the news as truth.
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you get the beany-baby bones! I just came across this article (see below link) this morning. He does a wonderful job of telling us that renewables can't meet demand. Then you read the blog-responses from the engineering community and you'll notice at the bottom of the responses, he meekly admits that some of 'his' numbers are off! Check it out…
"Don’t Expect Large Wind Plants To Provide A Lot Of Energy Yet"
http://electronicdesign.com/article/power/dont-expect-large-wind-plants-provide-lot-energy-73713?cid=ed_powernewsletter&NL=1&YM_RID=lgbrossa@rrjco.com
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"The world can be powered by alternative energy, using today's technology, in 20-40 years, says Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobs."
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/january/jacobson-world-energy-012611.html
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"scary but ultimately non-catastrophic Fukushima nuclear crisis"
I'm without words…:o
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Seen the Latest headlines:
United States Circumvented Laws To Help Japan Accumulate Tons of Plutonium
http://www.dcbureau.org/
snip
The United States deliberately allowed Japan access to the United States’ most secret nuclear weapons facilities while it transferred tens of billions of dollars worth of American tax paid research that has allowed Japan to amass 70 tons of weapons grade plutonium since the 1980s, a National Security News Service investigation reveals. These
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70 TONS OF WEAPONS GRADE PLUTONIUM !!!!!!
Now how many times over do you think that would kill every man, woman, child, hyena, cockroach, and snail on the planet?
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there is 99.99% probability for some another nuclear crisis in different country, sooner than later ;}
why, simply because humans tend to fail a lot times
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Agreed, I often wonder how many Fukushima's will it take before Leaders "Wake UP" and stop living in Nuclear Denial*…
*Nuclear Denial
http://is.gd/XPjMd0
The illogical belief that Nature cannot destroy any land based nuclear reactor, any place anytime 24/7/365!
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it will never happen until the issue of corruption and profit is not sorted… sustainability is the only way forward and I say this meaning not just ecologically but also economically
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Humans tend to fail a lot, yes, but also, things just break down.
Particularly when they have been subjected to intense radiation.
It's scientific.
And yes, we can expect many more nuclear crises. Like the fellow in the movie Titanic said, looking at the diagrams, when someone asked how sure was he that the ship would sink: " 'tis a mathematical certainty."
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This WP article is an example of why people simply cannot trust the nuclear industry, the perpetual sickening distortion of the facts. Yeah, call the change over to clean renewables a "mess". Yechh!! Don't make mention though of the fact that it was YOUR INDUSTRY that created this mess in the first place, which we all are now forced to live with. What do you care that the world's people and all other species now have to filter the deadly toxins you spewed into the air with our lungs?
Absolutely disgusting.
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Quote: Closing reactors causing a “mess”
I would rather have a mess than a disaster.
NO more nuke plants and close down what we have
These monsters should never have been built, they are to dangerous
There are safer ways to get energy, why wouldn't we want that instead of those spewing radiation monsters that cause dangerous waste?
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I think they don't shutdown npp, because they know the real danger is on the SPF, this pools will be dangerous for 1000 years.
Who will pay the electrical bill to NPP that are not producing more electricity? only to be in a " cold shutdown"?
more than 400 NPP around the world must be shut down, but who is going to afford decomission?
Maybe it's better to let radiation to leak into the oceans than build dry casks for all that spend roods.
NPP operators think: The damage is already done and no way to turn back, why not continue taking advantage of the NPP if we're going to have to live with them for the rest of our lives?
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There's no future for the failed nuclear technology. 2011 was the "beginning of the end" for it.
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I know one way to swiftly end this debate once and forever!
All those in favor of Nuclear energy have just won a trip to tour the Fukushima nuclear energy plant…no need to wear any protective gear, the reactors are in cold shut down (virtual that is-case of symantics). After the tour of the complex a luncheon will be provided where tourist can sample the local fare. This will be fun and educational and think of all the friends and relatives you call tell about the mavels of atom smashing and how radiation really isn't a problem.*All participants must have current health insurance plans.
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That's how it is…Fukushima is the game changer in many ways.
It can be learned early or late..
But this one incident..(although,Chernobyl really should have taught the lesson)..is going to teach us all the dangers of nuclear power.
This is going to affect the industry..as it should.
The truth is leaking out..and although I hate to see anyone out of a job.
I want to break the back of the nuclear industry.
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@Rose: if they weren't so closed-minded, they'd see that renewables offers economic opportunities unlike anything else; except perhaps the wheel! The technical innovation alone would be a boon to these engineers.
/rant on/ Their problem is no different than those who've become accustomed to waiting by the mailbox for a check. It's called corporate welfare and not unlike any-other form of welfare, it can destroy a person's soul if you become dependent on it.
Read the trade journals. The chinese (purposely not capitalized out of disrespect for their government) and Germans (who I dearly love along with the chinese people) have gone full-tilt-all-out into renewables. Seeing how our (US) government is completely dysfunctional and riddled with traitors, by the time the American people realize the extent of the nuclear scam, it'll be (as usual) way-too late. We'll be buying our solar PV systems from abroad, so our children can read their math books by the light of foreign-made LED lights. Our 'leadership' is despicable and will not be forgotten for their collusion with the NWO. /rant off/
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My friend,…you are so much a part of the many 'sticks that broke this camel's back',….I can not even COUNT them all. We all have added 'sticks'.
Never before in my hard-won 51+ years, have I ever SEEN 'The power of ONE', literally BULLDOZE more NB,…..and all of life's baloney for that matter! The TRUTH tellers are not only ONFIRE,…. and getting SHARPER,….but they also seem to have a megaphone/amplifier of sorts! This is TRULY amazing!
The popcorn's on,….my friends are ALL invited to the show!
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"Following the scary but ultimately non-catastrophic Fukushima nuclear crisis…."
Spoken by someone invested up to their eyeballs in energy stocks no doubt. To quote Bubbles, "That cocksucker is an idiot.".
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Two words:
Dangerous Morons.
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The nuclear cabal is feeling the heat and hope their main man gets re-elected and as a lame duck he can help the industry more than in his first term. Perhaps. Obama is hoping Japan stays relatively stable before November because a bad hemispheric event will complicate re-election plans.
The big talk about new reactors may fall hollow with the bankers as the German estimate of 17 trillion dollars to recover from Fukushima Daiichi has them pulling the purse strings tight. Only dictators can finance nuclear plants now and many dictators may decline to pursue that direction.
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I agree and would LOVE to get a link to the Germany estimate of 17 Trillion dollar cleanup since I've been getting bashed for saying it will be about 1 Trillion Dollars… Thanks
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I believe that if Americans really knew the true cost of Fukushima, WE, the people, would demand CHANGE and that is something that some of those in Government and the entire Nuclear Industry want to avoid at all cost!
What will determine the total cost of their "Trillion Dollar" Eco-Disaster?
Please feel free to add your comments and or estimates to this list:
Decommissioning costs
Loss to all other radioactive decontamination caused by this Disaster.
Loss of revenues by Tepco
Loss to TEPCO's share holders caused by radioactivity
Loss of Japanese personal income caused by radioactivity
Loss to Japanese businesses caused by radioactivity
Loss of all Japanese health costs related to radioactivity
Loss due to unusable Japanese Land related to radioactivity
Loss due to Japanese housing caused by radioactivity
Loss of Japanese Property Values caused by radioactivity
Loss of fishing grounds caused by radioactivity
Loss of manufacturing caused by radioactivity
Loss to the value of the Yen caused by radioactivity
Loss to other Utilities caused by Fukushima's radioactivity
Loss to Japans credit rating caused by Fukushima's radioactivity
Loss to the Japanese peoples Lives because of radiation
…. and lets not forget the
Loss to the Japanese Nuclear Industry World-Wide…
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CaptD, I've never had any doubt this would cost well over one trillion dollars — to Japan alone. The economic loss to Japan will be over a trillion dollars, in just a few years. You'd not have gotten any "bashing" from me!
Had never heard the $17 trillion estimate, but it sounds realistic to me!
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Disgusting. This gentleman needs to move to Fukushima. Then he can tell me how non-catastrophic it is. WHAT A DICK
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One way of how catastrophic nukes are, please read:
Why Fukushima Is A Greater Disaster Than Chernobyl
By Robert Alvarez
24 April, 2012
Institute for Policy Studies
The radioactive inventory of all the irradiated nuclear fuel stored in spent fuel pools at Fukushima is far greater and even more problematic than the molten cores.
http://www.countercurrents.org/alvarez240412.htm
Another is to appreciate the fact that there have been 110 million infant mortalities in the world from 1980 till 2010 also contributed by nukes, assuming just 0.1% of caesium 137 inventory leak per year. And to wonder what it is in the years 2011 and 2012. Still another mortal danger to any nuke in the world is from a nuclear explosion that may be caused by the risk from the terrific dynamics of surges of waves of water moment that would be applied at the nukes from the world's dams as they rush to meet the demand changes from instant to instant for water… See
http://glaringlacuna.blogspot.in/2012/04/close-nukes-they-are-subject-to-beyond.html
And just one more to show the futility of all the care that is taken to wash no dirty linen in public: The energy audit of any nuclear power programme is that all the electricity that is produced by them is consumed by the nuke industry leaving none to society from year to year: See
Energy audit of nuclear fuel cycles at:
http://energyauditofnuclearfuelcycles.blogspot.in/
And thus how the risk from nuclear forever grows to infinity.
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Your links formatting makes what you are saying very hard to understand!
Any chance of posting another link that contains the info in a pdf?
Thanks
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"The energy audit of any nuclear power programme is that all the electricity that is produced by them is consumed by the nuke industry leaving none to society from year to year."
Super concept – I hope it catches on in the public's mind.
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@aigeezer
April 25
The concept of embedded energy and auditing the consumption of nuclear power programmes has been with us for a long time(See 1975. Amory B Lovins and John H Price. Non-Nuclear Futures. Harper- Colophon. 1980) but public appreciation has ben slow in coming. Even though they understand credit and debit cards and the horror deficit financing!
The governments and authorities at least in India and China being so ignorant of the whole thing are into nukes in a big way. Thus I fervently hope along with you that it catches on.
See my efforts in this direction in all the URLs at
http://justiceinorout.blogspot.in/
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@CaptD
April 25, 2012 at 10:12
Dear CaptD: Sure I will try again to converse with you.Very soon.
I was concentrating on 'non-catastrophic"(noncat) in the article. And how ludicrous wash can be.
1.Thus Alvares point(also discussed in enenews at length) that Fuku on going is more than Chernobyl.How can Fuku then be non cat?
2.I ran a study to see the cumulative effect of the release of Cs137 from the growing nuke capacity year after year from 1980 till 2010 using data on Infant Mortality in the world from year to year during the same period. I found the correlation to be logarithmic significantly and strongly. This showed that nukes contributed to the infant mortalities in the world, with leak of just 0.1% of Cs137 inventory annually taking the long lived nature of Cs137(300 years of lethality). This I will publish soon. This brings out the catastrophic nature of nukes in general!
3. Then I brought out the mortal danger from dams of the world with the threat of nuclear explosions in the link glaring lacuna. This again brings out the catastrophic nature of nukes in general and Fukushima in particular because Fukushima was caused by the dams, by exactly such terrific surge appaering on the park.
4. Thereafter I highlighted the futility of nukes by bringing in the energy audit of nuclear power programmes by linking the energy audit of the American nuclear programme.
Please feel free to comment if you want further clarifications.
Thank you for your invaluable…
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Dear Ram. Kumar, try me on twitter @1CaptD
Thanks
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@Capt D
Re Item 2 above, I promised I would publish soon:
Here it is:
http://isisunveiledhenp.blogspot.in/
See the logarithmic nature of the annual cumulative infant mortalities as a function of World nuclear capacity.
Sorry, I can only go up to e mails. Twitter, facebuch etc are out of bounds!
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*The funds for decommissioning a reactor are supposed to be available at the time a new reactor is built, Now I will be willing to bet they have been things wrote changing or manipulating the moneys for this purpose ?
They may have raided funds somewhere along the line and the money may not be there for decommissioning !
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The rate payers pay these funds and since they are a fixed amount any radioactive leaks or problems are not "funded"…
There was an article that if Japan shuttered many of their reactors, there would be little money available since they had not been in service for their expected lifespan… Which means to me that the FIX is in…
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[REMOVED. OFF-TOPIC. FINAL WARNING]
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