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  1. “It is amazing how organizations that continually fight against nuclear energy apparently assume that the people who favor it must be stupid.”
    Why is that amazing? They assume that their own followers — people who are against nuclear energy — are stupid. I’d say that they’re pretty consistent.

  2. I’d like to ask a question which I think the answer will *also* be in the favor of nuclear advocates – let’s say, hypothetically, some gas escapes the geological formations it’s trapped in and accumulates in the salt mine. Let’s further say that *somehow* it gets ignited – not from the temperature of the casks, but some other ignition source. What would actually happen?
    I’m no engineer, as I’ve said before, but I suspect the answer is that the gas explosion probably wouldn’t damage the casks – although it might bury the casks in a mine collapse? Is the waste inside the casks vitrified – that is, locked into very durable glass? If so, then even if one or more of the casks got breached somehow, what’s the worst case scenario? I think it would be that a little bit of the glass would get out into the mine – I can’t see how that’s a big deal?

    1. I found an article via Google News, on Boston.com, about the waste heading to Gorleben, and it appears that, yes, the waste is vitrified in glass:
      http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/11/05/nuclear_waste_shipment_to_germany_meets_protests/
      Then surrounded by 16 inch-thick steel. I can’t imagine what, short of a thermonuclear warhead detonating on top them, could cause them to become an environmental disaster – I mean, even if corrosion ate a hole through one of the containers, the glass is not going to ‘leak’ out or anything.

  3. Brian,
    I’d go further than that, as with all ideological based movements, they are engaged just as much in self-deception as they are in deceiving others. I have no doubt that they actually believe the crap that comes out of their mouths. And their focus is keeping the greenpeace ‘movement’ ideologically sound by manufacturing evidence and if necessary believing that black is white and white is black. This is Orwell in action, and it takes a fair amount of mental acuity to pull off.
    I find it fascinating arguing with them – on huffington post, I got into an argument with somebody who had convinced himself that nuclear plants == nuclear bombs, and was convinced that the physics showing otherwise was a lie propagated by the nuclear industry.
    There is a heavy distrust of ANY large organization here. No, scratch that, there’s a heavy distrust of any large organization here that ISN’T ‘GREEN’. It’s particularly ironic that they don’t see the deception in their own ranks. Or perhaps they do, but they discount it as deception in the serving of a larger cause, ie: the ends justifies the means.
    So the main goal I think is to keep movements like them from spreading, to keep others from buying their bullshit, and by disillusioning potential recruits as much as possible by focusing on the cynical manipulative nature of their own organizations.
    But the reasons for their existence go deeper than logical. The need to belong, the strong social power of being ‘accepted’, the need for a strong hierarchy and to follow leaders, the psychological need for being ‘right’.. all this is going on and more, so I have high doubts that this strategy will stop them. Just slow them down a bit.
    Its worth the effort though IMO. Perhaps ultimately, someone in the green movement who espouses nuclear power (like James Lovelock, or Patrick Moore, Stewart Brand) WON’T be branded heretic and the ideology will mutate into something more benign.
    I admit this may be a long time coming though.
    Ed

    1. @Ed – My opinion of Greenpeace is that they are no more or less ideological than McDonalds or PhillipMorris. They sell a product, make some money and use marketing that is carefully targeted to appeal to certain human foibles.
      I have been approached by Greenpeace canvassers on several occasions. My experience is that they are somewhat fresh faced, bright, personable, and pleased to be making $15-20 per hour instead of the $8 per hour they would make flipping hamburgers. They have no real understanding of the product they are selling. One time it was a fairly typical DC fall day – dense overcast, about 40 degrees, drizzly and not a breath of wind. After chatting with them for just a bit, they recognized that selling wind and solar power that day was a little like hawking raincoats in Death Valley. They were just happy that they were getting paid by the hour and not on commission.

      1. I wonder if it was same people who accosted me on the way to the White House for a nuclear materials tracking policy meeting. I was in uniform (USAF) they and asked if I was in charge of the Guantanamo Bay spa and resort.

  4. The 200 degrees F, isn’t that just caused by the sun shining onto the containers?
    Shouldn’t Green Peace be putting their effort into putting shade umbrellas over exposed gas pipe lines around the world?

  5. Hi
    storing nuclear waste in carefully designed containers deep in a former salt mine …
    By the way, Gorleben never was a salt mine. It was a completely untouched, virgin salt dome. That was one of the criteria it was chosen for exploration.
    Regards,
    Daddeldu

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