Comments on: building a nuclear bomb http://vinhboy.com/blog/2007/11/21/building-a-nuclear-bomb/ I think you are lost... Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:05:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: RobC http://vinhboy.com/blog/2007/11/21/building-a-nuclear-bomb/#comment-275 RobC Thu, 22 Nov 2007 03:49:51 +0000 http://209.20.89.17/blog/?p=170#comment-275 I have a lot of respect for Wikipedia, but you have to take it on its own terms. It's written by people like you and I who put down what we think is right or at least will convince people that we're right.<br /> <br /> We, speaking collectively of the advanced world, do know how to deal with the wastes. Reprocessing, which is currently being done elsewhere and soon will be done in the US, removes the extremely-valuable leftover uranium and transuranic actinides from the spent fuel. The remaining 3% remains dangerous for a much shorter period of time and could be deposited safely in many ways, for example by putting it in old mine shafts; as long as the mines don't fill with water the wastes would be perfectly safe. Moreover, there exists now a technology for transmuting the residual wastes into substances with even shorter lifetimes or even have no toxicity. All it takes to make it happen is political will.<br /> <br /> I see from your resume that you graduated in Evolution and Ecology from UC Davis. You're uniquely well qualified to address the issues of global warming and how to deal with it. What you said here is clear enough, but there's the practical problem of getting people to lower their standards of living. Also, do you really think we could run a modern civilization on part-time energy sources?<br /> <br /> RobC<br /> <A HREF="<a href="http://gwperplexed.niof.org/" rel="nofollow">http://gwperplexed.niof.org/</a>">Global Warming: A Guide for the Perplexed</A> I have a lot of respect for Wikipedia, but you have to take it on its own terms. It’s written by people like you and I who put down what we think is right or at least will convince people that we’re right.

We, speaking collectively of the advanced world, do know how to deal with the wastes. Reprocessing, which is currently being done elsewhere and soon will be done in the US, removes the extremely-valuable leftover uranium and transuranic actinides from the spent fuel. The remaining 3% remains dangerous for a much shorter period of time and could be deposited safely in many ways, for example by putting it in old mine shafts; as long as the mines don’t fill with water the wastes would be perfectly safe. Moreover, there exists now a technology for transmuting the residual wastes into substances with even shorter lifetimes or even have no toxicity. All it takes to make it happen is political will.

I see from your resume that you graduated in Evolution and Ecology from UC Davis. You’re uniquely well qualified to address the issues of global warming and how to deal with it. What you said here is clear enough, but there’s the practical problem of getting people to lower their standards of living. Also, do you really think we could run a modern civilization on part-time energy sources?

RobC
<A HREF="http://gwperplexed.niof.org/">Global Warming: A Guide for the Perplexed</A>

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