Suggested Discussion Outline

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johnkarls
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Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:43 pm

Suggested Discussion Outline

Post by johnkarls »

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SUGGESTED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS


A. GENERAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Are we acting like adults if we simply oppose everything???

2. Should we take into account what will happen if we do oppose everything and, instead, try to be as practical as possible???

3. If we oppose everything, shouldn't we be honest enough to admit that a large share, if not the majority, of both America's and the world's population will perish??? (And if that's not enough to sober us up, would we be prepared to euthanize hundreds of millions of people in order to spare them the pain of the deaths they will otherwise suffer???)

4. Isn't it true that there is no real solution to the problem of global warming unless it is cheaper than the alternative sources of energy, such as coal and fractured-formation natural gas??? After all, do we really think the United States (whether unilaterally or with a "coalition of the willing" since each of NATO's 28 members has a veto over NATO action and China has a veto in the U.N.) would invade India and China militarily to prevent them from constructing the coal-fired electrical-generation plants that they have been throwing up at an unbelievable rate???


B. SPENT FUEL RODS AT AMERICAN NUCLEAR PLANTS

1. Since President Obama has effectively terminated the Yucca Mountain deep-cavern repository for spent fuel rods which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia blocked unless the federal government can show that it would be absolutely safe for 1 million years (or Congress approves the standard of absolute safety for 10,000 years which the federal government did prove in court) -- (a) doesn't the Japanese earthquake demonstrate that storing the spent fuel rods permanently on site in what are essentially home swimming pools is too dangerous??? (b) and isn't storing them in "dry casks" after their radioactive "half life" has expired after a few years and placing the "dry casks" on the Utah desert where they might be involved in an airplane crash during the next 10,000 years also dangerous???

2. Is there a lesson to be learned from the French (who generate the overwhelming majority of their electricity from nuclear plants and export 11.0% of their electricity to other countries) since the French refuse to share the American phobia that spent fuel rods are a necessary evil because re-processing them would eventually result in weapons-grade uranium which might be stolen by terrorists??? After all, the U.S. military has an unbelievable amount of weapons-grade uranium in their nuclear weapons themselves, and the U.S. military has no trouble providing adequate security for them -- so why can't the U.S. be as successful as the French in providing security for re-processed nuclear fuel???

NB: The answer to question 2 might very easily merit one of our Six-Degrees-Of-Separation E-mail campaigns.


C. GENERATION III NUCLEAR PLANTS

1. Aren't Generation III plants, whose water-cooling systems operate by convection rather than with electrical pumps that might be useless in an earthquake as demonstrated recently in Japan, absolutely safe???

2. If they aren't absolutely safe, how has the safety record of America's Generation II plants compared to the safety record of alternative sources of electrical power, such as the safety record of coal mines which are the source of a majority of America's electrical power???


D. GENERATION II NUCLEAR PLANTS

1. Is there anything to criticize about President Obama's order for a review of safety at each of America's existing nuclear plants while they remain in operation???

2. In other words, does anyone distrust President Obama??? Either in terms of motives or in terms the competence of his team that will be conducting the review???

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