Re: "
eliverables"
In the summer of 1970 I was the leader of one of two research teams established by the University of Wyoming to study the possible contamination of Uranium in the Shirley Basin. Ranchers were complaining that their crops and sheep were being affected by Uranium poison. We took samples from the entire region, including the open pit mines and the mine tailings, and the water seeping from those tailings. I built the 256 bucket Gallium scintillation detector and surrounded it with pre-1945 lead bricks to shield out background radiation. The runs were 24, 36 and 48 hours each on samples isolated using ion exchange columns. Runs of less duration than that didn't show measurable levels.
We detected no Uranium in any flora or soil samples outside the mines, although we didn't drill to test for possible underground contamination. The hottest samples were the water taken from the tailing in the mines themselves. They contained 1 ppm and less of Uranium. So, essentially, we found no appreciable Uranium contamination.
I found out some interesting facts. The mines were extracting Uranium down to 1 ppm, which is why we never found more than that in the tailing water. But, more important to me, was the fact that during the late 1960s and early 70s there was a lot of political pressure to build nuclear power plants. I was surprised to learn that the folks who owned corporations which built the various components for a nuclear power plant were the big multi-national oil corporations. They were in the middle of a transition of taking their hands off the throats of oil and putting them around the throat of nuclear when we were doing the testing in Wyoming. Things were going smoothly for them until the film "The China Syndrome" opened in 1979 and then, just a few weeks later, the Three Mile Island incident happened. That spelled the end of nuclear reactor building in the US, until recently.
Over the intervening years, like most other Federal agencies originally created to protect citizens from corporate shenanigans, the NRC has become a sock puppet for the corporations behind the nuclear industry, and for those running the existing nuclear power plants, and the NRC now regularly rubber stamps their requests. For example. one of the original nuclear plants to be built in the US, started in 1968 with a nuclear reactor design that has not been used since, was never commissioned, and construction was stopped in 1988. Watch the store here. Notice the remarks about the AP1000 nuclear reactor they plan to use.
I do know that it costs less to build a coal-fired power plant than a nuclear power plant, but I don't know what the cost relationships are between a coal-fired plant and a solar plant of equal capacity. I do know that the waste products of a nuclear plant have to be isolated and protected for at least 10,000 years. No one can tell me with a straight face that the current costs of nuclear power include the maintenance costs for the next 10,000 years. I do know that research on solar cells and generation of electricity from them is on-going and single p-n junction crystalline silicon devices are now approaching the theoretical limiting efficiency of 37.7%. Multiple layer solar cells have a theoretical limit of 86%, and multi-layer, full spectrum cells have efficiencies of over 40%.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...v111103%29.jpg
A former NASA engineer who made millions on the "Super Soaker" has developed a solar cell which he claims is 60% efficient., and thermal photovoltaics have achieved efficiencies of 85%
There has been a massive shift toward solar power in recent years, and it is easy to see why. Farms in the midwest and south constantly stir the ground each year to plant seasonal crops. They could easily take a quarter section of land and put a solar power collector on it and the farmer could maintain it just like he does his other farm equipment, and sell the electricity to the local power grid. Rather than having massive power plants at one location, with giant bulls-eyes on them for terrorists, the energy system could be distributed all around the west and south. It would restore rural communities to life with an economy similar to that created when farmers bought farm implements. The local John Deer businesses supplied jobs to the local community and those jobs resulted in other small business being created. Entire rural communities were supported by farming, directly or indirectly. The same could occur with solar power stations.
eliverables"
Originally posted by bsniadajewski
We detected no Uranium in any flora or soil samples outside the mines, although we didn't drill to test for possible underground contamination. The hottest samples were the water taken from the tailing in the mines themselves. They contained 1 ppm and less of Uranium. So, essentially, we found no appreciable Uranium contamination.
I found out some interesting facts. The mines were extracting Uranium down to 1 ppm, which is why we never found more than that in the tailing water. But, more important to me, was the fact that during the late 1960s and early 70s there was a lot of political pressure to build nuclear power plants. I was surprised to learn that the folks who owned corporations which built the various components for a nuclear power plant were the big multi-national oil corporations. They were in the middle of a transition of taking their hands off the throats of oil and putting them around the throat of nuclear when we were doing the testing in Wyoming. Things were going smoothly for them until the film "The China Syndrome" opened in 1979 and then, just a few weeks later, the Three Mile Island incident happened. That spelled the end of nuclear reactor building in the US, until recently.
Over the intervening years, like most other Federal agencies originally created to protect citizens from corporate shenanigans, the NRC has become a sock puppet for the corporations behind the nuclear industry, and for those running the existing nuclear power plants, and the NRC now regularly rubber stamps their requests. For example. one of the original nuclear plants to be built in the US, started in 1968 with a nuclear reactor design that has not been used since, was never commissioned, and construction was stopped in 1988. Watch the store here. Notice the remarks about the AP1000 nuclear reactor they plan to use.
I do know that it costs less to build a coal-fired power plant than a nuclear power plant, but I don't know what the cost relationships are between a coal-fired plant and a solar plant of equal capacity. I do know that the waste products of a nuclear plant have to be isolated and protected for at least 10,000 years. No one can tell me with a straight face that the current costs of nuclear power include the maintenance costs for the next 10,000 years. I do know that research on solar cells and generation of electricity from them is on-going and single p-n junction crystalline silicon devices are now approaching the theoretical limiting efficiency of 37.7%. Multiple layer solar cells have a theoretical limit of 86%, and multi-layer, full spectrum cells have efficiencies of over 40%.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...v111103%29.jpg
A former NASA engineer who made millions on the "Super Soaker" has developed a solar cell which he claims is 60% efficient., and thermal photovoltaics have achieved efficiencies of 85%
There has been a massive shift toward solar power in recent years, and it is easy to see why. Farms in the midwest and south constantly stir the ground each year to plant seasonal crops. They could easily take a quarter section of land and put a solar power collector on it and the farmer could maintain it just like he does his other farm equipment, and sell the electricity to the local power grid. Rather than having massive power plants at one location, with giant bulls-eyes on them for terrorists, the energy system could be distributed all around the west and south. It would restore rural communities to life with an economy similar to that created when farmers bought farm implements. The local John Deer businesses supplied jobs to the local community and those jobs resulted in other small business being created. Entire rural communities were supported by farming, directly or indirectly. The same could occur with solar power stations.
Comment