Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant . . .

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. . . begins moving radioactive fuel rods.

But given that TEPCO has not exactly won over the Japanese public with its handling of the catastrophe, and that the amount of radioactive cesium-137 in the pool is said to be the equivalent of roughly 14,000 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs, this next step is turning into a crucial test for the beleaguered utility as much as it is an engineering challenge.

Few in Japan or abroad seem convinced that TEPCO can pull this off, given the company's checkered track record.

I wonder what kind of damage would be done if one of these things leaks.

You don't want to know.

I've lived through Three Mile Island. Met Ed, to this day, hasn't the foggiest idea on how to run a nuclear plant. For that matter Exelon, the outfit the runs Peach Bottom Nuclear Power plant, doesn't have a clue either. Granted, TMI was a walk in the park compared to Chernobyl or Fukushima. In my not so humble opinion, the world should decommission all the nuclear power plants and let them sit idle, as these plants have long outlived their usefulness, now that technology has been able to better harness energy from the wind and the sun.

But what do I know? I'm just a stupid Aspie who doesn't know his arse from a hole in the ground! This is my opinion and mine alone (as if it matters)!

This is from Wikipedia

Energy by power source 2008
TWh %
Oil 48 204 33.5%
Coal 38 497 26.8%
Gas 30 134 20.9%
Nuclear 8 283 5.8%
Hydro 3 208 2.2%
Other RE* 15 284 10.6%
Others 241 0.2%
Total 143 851 100%
Source: IEA *`=solar, wind, geothermal and biofuels


It seems harnessing power from the Earth is always destructive in some way. Even the wind turbines kill off birds and I've read somewhere that the process of making solar panels uses a lot of harmful chemicals.
Anyway, nuclear power does seem to pose the greatest risk to the greatest number. But tell that to the residents of north-eastern Alberta.

Wow. My dad needs to move over there. I agree. We need to stop using nuclear power!

I know just how you feel. That's just how my dad makes me feel whenever I express my opinion, especially if it's against things such as nuclear power.

A properly run nuke will generate electricity cost effectively and safely. If we use breeder reactors that will make most of the waste problem go away. If we use thorium reactors we don't have to worry about terrorist making bomb material from them.

Nuclear reactors and the greatest way of generating electricity on an industrial scale that mankind has yet developed.

Wind and Solar do not produce the volumes of energy required by industry and it costs more per kilowatt for the electricity produced by these means. So far, "green" power sources are feeble and cannot sustain a serious industrial economy.

The "green" mode of energy production can do a good job in certain niches, but cannot sustain an economy such as we have here in the U.S.

The reason we depend on hydrocarbons is because they are "energy dense". I,E. you can get a lot more energy from a kilogram of petroleum than from a kilogram of corn.

Until photovoltaic means can match the per kilowatt hour costs of other modes of electrical production and produce the volume of energy needed by industry they are no substitute for what we have now.

ruveyn

we need to move away from uranium reactors, the only reason they are so popular was the bomb programs needing plutonium, there are reactor styles like thorium that are passively safe unlike uranium and dont produce plutonium

also nuclear waste is far from waste its just the current governments dont want it refined because one of the products from refining is plutonium, take some time and look what nuclear waste is made out of