Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

used nuclear fuel

The Atomic Show #126 – Wasserman v Moore moderated by Goodman and Adams

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On Thursday February 5, 2009, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! moderated a brief debate about nuclear power between Harvey Wasserman and Patrick Moore.

The forcing function for holding the debate on that date was the fact that the Senate has included an additional authorization for $50 billion in loan guarantees for clean energy as part of the stimulus package. Though all forms of low emission energy can qualify, the fear among the virulent anti-nukes like Harvey Wasserman and the O’Connor family sponsored Texans for a Sound Energy Policy Alliance is that the vast majority of the loan guarantee authority will be captured by the nuclear power industry.

That is a reasonable evaluation of the current situation. After all, utility companies interested in building new nuclear power plants already have $122 Billion in shovel ready projects waiting in line for loan guarantees. The project applications were turned in several months ago and are being ranked and evaluated by the Department of Energy.

During the debate, Wasserman focused on telling lies about nuclear power plant insurance, about the risk of living and working near a plant, and about the expense associated with recycling used nuclear fuel. He also attempted to attract some strange bedfellows from conservative groups like Cato by focusing on what he called the market failure of nuclear power.

Moore admitted that he had been totally wrong in his youth by not recognizing the difference between nuclear weapons and beneficial uses of nuclear technology. He talked about the benefits of clean, reliable nuclear power that can reduce the need to burn coal, about the myth that we do not know what to do with the waste, and also wondered why Wasserman, a man with no history of love for the free market, is so certain that government should not be involved in electricity supply enterprises.

Of course, you can view the full debate uninterrupted at the Democracy Now! web site: Should the Economic Stimulus Bill Include Billions in Loan Guarantees? but I think this interrupted version adds some entertainment and informational value. I hope you agree and come to the site to share your thoughts.

In addition, please do make the effort to contact your senator and congressman to let them know how you feel about loan guarantees. (If you do not like them, that’s okay. I would be interested in hearing why or why not.)

One more thing – Harvey Wasserman is still an idiot.

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The Atomic Show #106 – NNadir discusses ruthenium, rhodium, palladium plus other valuable “nuclear wastes”

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NNadir is a diarist at Daily Kos. He is a Democrat who encourages support for clean, safe nuclear power. He is also a chemist who is enthusiastic about materials found in used nuclear fuel.

I recently posted a blog on Atomic Insights about nuclear fuel recycling that broke a record for the number of comments received. Normally, the people that hang out at Atomic Insights are a select few who have accepted the notion that nuclear fission has useful capabilities, but there were plenty of naysayers involved in that conversation.

Apparently, discussing the possibility of nuclear fuel recycling operations stirs up the opposition. Of course, their preferred term is “reprocessing” and they continue to point to characteristics of processes that were developed in the 1950s to explain their opposition. From a purely technological point of view, that is like saying you do not favor the use of computers because the Motorola 6809 is not very reliable. (For the non-geeks in the crowd, the Motorola 6809 was the brains behind the TRS-80, one of the very first personal computers in the mass market.)

During this episode of The Atomic Show, NNadir and I talk about the incredible energy store that is already mined and above ground in the form of used nuclear fuel and the tailings from uranium enrichment operations. We also talk about the other valuable materials – outside of fissile and fertile isotopes – that are found in used nuclear fuel.

Materials like the noble metals of ruthenium, rhodium, and palladium are extremely rare in the natural world, but they could be extracted in ton quantities from the residues of nuclear fission. Isotopes like strontium and cesium have proven uses in nuclear batteries and as irradiation sources. Gold, silver and platinum are famously valuable and are also produced in the amazing alchemy called fission.

Have a listen.

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