taxes, gas prices, VLAC

[E. Roy Wendell IV]

> My two cents;
>
> I'm a scientist who has worked on fusion for the last 35 years- while 
> fusion
> is the ultimate solution for energy- we have a "good enough" one at 
> hand
> now.

You know, it's pretty funny that this subject has come up considering 
that I'm currently doing a research paper on it. My analysis is that 
the environmental movement, which I consider myself to be a member of, 
should be in favor of nuclear fission power. The alternative, burning 
nasty coal in large quantities and releasing lead, mercury, sulfur, and 
of course huge quantities of CO2, into the atmosphere is catching up to 
us in ways that will take decades if not a century to reverse. 
Conservation, while I believe in it personally, would require changing 
human nature. Given the numbers of those stupid H2s that are being sold 
I don't hold out much chance thats going to happen. "Renewables" in my 
opinion can't produce enough power in enough places to be effective. 
Many of them, except maybe solar, have their own environmental problems 
as well. Here in West Virginia we are putting up wind turbines in 
quantity. The looser-migrating birds trying to fly over the mountain 
peaks and getting diced.

You can't blame the "greens" for being anti nuclear. The industry as a 
whole hasn't done a very good job in making choices that would have 
made it the friendly source of cheap power it was supposed to be. Their 
choice of high power and inherently unsafe plants versus lower power 
inherently safe designs was the first mistake. A little known fact is 
that the choice of water as a coolant and all the problems that go with 
it was influenced mainly by the US Navy. They appeared at the right 
time offering to pay for development costs if the resultant design was 
ship friendly, i.e. produced steam that could be used with their 
existing turbines. The alternative design, using helium as a coolant 
combined with encapsulating the fuel in carbon pellets, produces a 
design that doesn't make the coolant radioactive and is so inherently 
safe you can shut off all the controls and walk out the door without 
suffering a meltdown.

I repeat, using the "greens" as a scapegoat isn't going to get us 
anywhere. They are simply fairly intelligent and conscientious people 
who are looking at the possible consequences of core meltdown combined 
with TMI and Chernobyl and conclude that the risk is too great. Among 
intelligent people at least you won't marginalize their arguments by 
attacking the messenger. You must attack the message by offering solid 
counter arguments. The industry as a whole needs to admit that the 
design of the current plants is brain damaged and start getting on the 
gas cooled pebble bed reactor train before it permanently leaves the 
station for China. Having a reactor that you can actually test by 
turning off all the controls and walking away from would shut up a lot 
of nay sayers in a real hurry. Simply taking the sources that I've 
found in the school library, repackaging them for general consumption, 
and finding some way to make it front page news would be a start. How 
about a test plant here is the US?

Roy