Downs.wiki.spring.2011

I'm tired of seeing my gas prices rise twenty cents at the same station between the time that I drive from Boston to the Cape and when I get back that same day the next week. I'm tired of my country being dependent nations that hate us, one of which even produced the man who orchestrated the worst attack on America this country had ever seen. I'm tired of everything costing more and more and having my paycheck not covering as much as it did the last month. This nation's dependence on hydrocarbon fuels is driving me insane. Everyone and their mother but the oil companies and Saudi Arabia Everyone wants to find a replacement, but nobody is really doing much about it because nobody can agree on a set solution. But the prophecies have come true, and it all came down to one man and his wiki. That's right, I'm solving the gas crisis. Unlike previous unsuccessful attempts, my plan is a little more useful than storing gasoline in my basement until the prices rise high enough for me to sell it. (popcritics.com, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis) Nuclear Fission works by splitting an atom into smaller parts. Elements with a large fissile atomic nucleus (radioactive) such as Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 absorb a neutron in a reactor. The atom then splits into smaller nuclei, releasing heat and free neutrons which bounce around in the reactor until they are absorbed by another atom and continues the cycle. Nuclear power plants use the fission process to heat a boiler and run a steam plant to move turbines and create electricity. It is cheap, and it is much safer than you think. The actual reaction used to heat the boiler doesn't create any CO2, as neither Carbon nor Oxygen is used. (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/nuclear-fission-basics.html) Obviously the United States use nuclear power simply because we're awesome, about 19% of America's electricity is made from nuclear fission. About twenty nine others, including France, Britain, Russia, Pakistan, and even Canada (Still a country? Really? Wow, Figured they would have just given up by now) use nuclear fission for power as of 2008. . Using nuclear fission to create electricity is currently the cheapest effective form of generation. Not only is nuclear power cheaper than fossil fuel generation to begin with, but the changing cost of fuel prices have a negligible effect on the cost of generation through nuclear fission according to the World Nuclear Association (www.world-nuclear.org) Also, that pesky global warming can stop making New England winters more bearable and all the dirty hippies can rest easy knowing that no CO2 is released in the reaction and their precious O-Zone layer is in tact. Nuclear power creates cheaper electricity, which lowers operating costs of our manufacturers and businesses and makes the products and services we need, want, like, like-for twenty minutes and throw away, and like just-so-we-can-have-it-hung-up-in-our-room-and-make-ourselves-look-good cheaper. Hopefully it clarifies nations like Saudi Arabia that our relationship is temporary and that we can't wait to not have to deal with them any more. I know what you're thinking, but sadly no, we won't be able to make water from the nuclear facilities. Damn liberals ruin everything.

Unfortunately, nuclear fission as a source of electricity has not caught on in the world today. Most people are not opposed to using Nuclear Reactors to make their electricity, but the "not in my backyard" principle applies. The general population fears events such as the reactor explosions in Chernobyl, Three-Mile Island, and the Fukushima facility in Japan. Each of these incidents resulted in the utter destruction and abandonment in the area and radioactivity caused massive losses and trauma to those exposed. Although they are isolated incidents, nobody wants to chance having such an event happen to them.

(http://people.tribe.net/jmparker/photos/) The Three Mile Island reactor meltdown.

On top of that, the nuclear materials need to be disposed of and transported to and from the plants. Although the EPA claims to be handling the situation with a chosen site at Yukka Mountain, NV, which is isolated enough to contain the radioactivity until it runs out, there remains the problem of transport. No town is one hundred percent ready to allow nuclear materials to pass through on their way to Nevada. Everybody is all for cheap nuclear power, but nobody is willing to have the nuclear materials near them. This is known as the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) phenomenon and is responsible for delaying or even stopping such projects as Cape Wind and expansion of public housing into more wealthy suburban areas.

(chem.info) Max W. Carbon is the Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Wisconsin. Kind of a big deal. His thoughts?
 * 1) The safety record of nuclear power is outstanding. Radiation from nuclear plants has not caused any known deaths among the public worldwide, except at the Chernobyl plant in the Ukraine. The known death toll from the Chernobyl accident is less than 50.
 * 2) Less radiation is given off by a nuclear plant than a coal plant. Nuclear power plants emit no carbon dioxide (which contributes to global warming) nor sulfur and nitrogen oxides (which cause acid rain).
 * 3) There is an excellent solution to disposing of our nuclear wastes - to bury them deep underground where they will be harmless. In contrast, there is no solution to handling the billions of tons of carbon dioxide which coal and natural gas plants release yearly, except to discharge them into the atmosphere.
 * 4) Nuclear power plants save thousands of lives yearly in the United States. This is because nuclear plants replace many coal plants, which emit tiny particulates into the atmosphere. These particulates are believed to cause the premature death of thousands of Americans each year. Nuclear plants emit no particulates. (www.engr.wisc.edu/ep/faculty)

(img2.moonbuggy.org/imgstore)

In order to expand the use of Nuclear Fission as a source of cheaper and more economically stable electrical power and cut the United State's dependence on fossil fuels the public needs to be educated on the actual pros and cons of the process instead of what they hear about three isolated incidents. For instance, the populous of the Boston area would be intensely protesting with talks of Chernobyl if a nuclear fission reactor were being built currently. What most don't know is that they have been using nuclear power for almost fifty years. Yep, there has been a nuclear facility right over at MIT which has been running since 1958 without incident. Boom, argument won. All there is left to improve is the amount of use nuclear fission gets. A wide scale education program on the subject or highly publicized press conferences with both policy makers and the experts on the subjects would do just fine. It's been real, it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun. I'm out.