Worried about nuclear waste?
Well, you really shouldn’t be. Even with the promise of many more nuclear power plants, the odds are that we will develop new ways to use the nuclear waste. This is all because of the wonders of a capitalistic society.
The gist of it is that since the demand for uranium will increase, the price will increase also. The higher prices of uranium will make it economically feasible to find new ways to process the waste that could be potentially cheaper than obtaining uranium itself. I’m no scientist or chemist but from my understanding of nuclear material, you could potentially derive energy from it until it has decayed into lead. Thats a lot of potential energy stored in nuclear waste.
Don’t think that this will happen? Well I’m sorry to burst your bubble but talks are already beginning about this.
In 2000, uranium was selling for about $7 per pound. By last summer it was at $140 per pound. Prices have dropped back now, to about $73 per pound.
But that still means the uranium that could be recovered from the waste could be worth about $7.6 billion, according to the federal Government Accountability Office.
“Suddenly, this waste nobody wanted has become very valuable,” said Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-1st District, in which the Paducah plant is located.
Where there is a demand, someone will always find ways to supply, for a small price of course.
«The quantity of radioactivity, which is present in a reactor, is larger than the quantity of radioactivity spread by a nuclear bomb – significantly larger.», (Prof. Dr. C. F. von Weizsäcker, nuclear physicist
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«Since a reactor in one day produces as much radioactivity as a 50-kt nuclear explosion, and fuel in a reactor has typically been there for an average of two years, a typical nuclear reactor has in its core the long-lived radioisotopes from 30 megatons of fission.», Prof. Dr. Richard L. Garwin (nuclear physicist), »Can the World Do Without Nuclear Power?«, Nuclear Control Institute, 9.4.2001
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Please inform the public regarding the «Climatic Change caused by Radioactivity»:
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• A nuclear power plant produces each day the same amount of radioactivity than 4 nuclear bombs the size of Hiroshima!
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• The 5 Swiss nuclear power plants contain radioactivity approximately the size of 10’000 Hiroshima nuclear bombs! This in the production of 2 years.
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This inconceivable amount of radioactivity – this «Climatic Change caused by Radioactivity» – threatens and destroys the foundations of life for our and all future generations. The physical half-lives are completely irrelevant, as they are eternal from a human perspective. Also irrelevant is the calculated probability for accidents, as the potential for damage is far too gigantic. The nuclear physicist Garwin says: «Reactor accidents … too horrible to think about.» A trustworthy banker would advice: «We do not buy these shares» and insurances don’t cover this risk anyway.
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Upon the election of Barack Obama, it was the German politician Hans Dietrich Genscher, who reminded strongly and multiple times to the global top priority: The complete abolition of all nuclear weapons!
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Beside the financial crises and despite the «Climatic Change caused by CO2», we should not forget this. And we shouldn’t forget as well, that this – the abolition of all nuclear weapons – finally is only possible together with the abolition of all nuclear power plants, therefore the switch to Natural Power (electricity from renewable energies) is a pre-requisite. The nuclear conflict in Iran is one but not the only example of this undividable relation between nuclear weapons and nuclear power.