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Why don't Climatologists Support Nuclear Power?

Posted by $ Thoritsu 9 years, 11 months ago to Science
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I am open-minded but skeptical about human-induced climate change. WDonway's - recent post got me thinking again.

If CO2 is really the culprit, and one really believes it, why then are these same people not clamoring for the only presently viable solution to resolve it, Nuclear Power?

Renewables are clearly too far off, and far too ineffective. If one really believes human-induced global warming is a looming disaster, why are they not pushing to solve it. This seems a simple question to pose to any climate-religious-zealot. I suspect a majority would think for a moment where the funding originates, and decide to take a evasive political stance.


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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    there is a classic manhattan project story about the
    operators of the "calutrons" at y12 where I worked.
    of course, there were more women available for work
    during ww2, yet the scientists wanted to operate the
    controls of these u235-separating contraptions
    themselves. . they used very heavy magnetic fields
    to bend the flight of uranium atoms boiled from a
    tiny source and collected after their flight through
    the magnetic field. . constant adjustment was
    needed, as the boiling rate and field strength were
    varying all the time.

    someone suggested that they ask some of the
    available laboratory women to operate the controls.
    they did much better than the scientists. . they took
    over the job for the rest of the war. . back then, they
    were called the calutron girls. -- j

    p.s. see the last paragraph in "Scaling Up..." ::: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calutron
    .
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I wish! . if we could just push the scaremongers aside,
    we could do nuclear in a snap and thumb our noses
    at the OPEC nations, plus many others -- and use
    North Dakota oil for our classic cars forever!!! -- j
    .
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  • Posted by johnpe1 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I think that it says, "Trust us, the elite;;; we will work
    it out for you plebes. . Hide and watch." -- j

    p.s. even Christians believe in the "dominion" principle --
    decoupling humans from nature is insane.
    .
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  • Posted by Owlsrayne 9 years, 11 months ago
    A lot of what is happening due the current govt is in cohoots with the Greenies. Their psuedoscience has become a religion. They don't understand that the cellphones and tablets they used is derived from the use of petroleum plus other earth minerals. A number of years ago the British were trying to redesign nuclear reactors to be more compact, efficient and safer. I have not heard of anything happening in regards to that. But, I still believe that nuclear power is still a viable option for space propulsion.
    The original Orion project in the late fifties through the early seventies is still a great idea. There is still ongoing argument that NASA had the concept first or the scientists and engineers at General Atomics. The experimentation on using small nuclear explosions against a large ablative pusher plate to propel a large spacecraft into space was a part time project at GA. The actual technology was fully engineered but was halted due to the nuclear test ban treaty. The engineering even worked out to mitigate the radiation from the small nuclear blasts behind the craft. Today, it could be built in the space probably at a lagrange point then thrusted out well away from Earth to start the continuous explosion process. We could be on the way of colonizing the solar system and beyond. In reference to Analog Magazine, a number of years back a well known scifi writer wrote an article that had a design of magnetic field generators to protect the astronauts from cosmic rays.
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    A chisel is to a lathe as a pencil is to a computer. That worked for the older folks when we ran a computer entry level class back in the days of XT's. RAM is the same as the top of a desk the more stuff you put on the desk the less room for work. and so it went. Pretty soon Grandpa and Grandma were splat dot splatting along with the grand kids while Mom and Pop toiled with pen, pencil and paper. However we always ended with test requiring production of a shopping list. The sole printer churned out the finished products then we held up a piece of paper and a pencil. The Lead One point One is often the easiest solution. Remains true to this day. WWII the settings were the width adjustment on the mangles of the washing machine. That was prior to McDonalds and freeways. Deja Vu.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I read an article a long time ago, I think in Readers Digest, about men having to train women for the workforce during WWII. One supervisor did much better than all the others. His technique was to say: Remember how you change the setting on your washing machine? This dial is where you change the setting on this [industrial machine] - just like on your washer. And then, remember how you set the timer on your washing machine? Well, here is where you set the timer on [machine].

    I remembered this article when we started Schuyler House - I was the chief trainer back then. If I had trouble relating how to work the software, I would try to find some relation to an everyday task. Once, the trainee was so...uh...challenging, that I finally made up a little song, "Three letters of the last name. Comma. Three letters of the first name. Enter...."

    If I recall correctly, Kimball Kennison also taught an heiress about space travel in a similar fashion.

    The problem is that change is happening so quickly that you can barely find a metaphor before the user interface changes again.

    Jan
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I do not understand what this means? What's the steering wheel in this metaphor. What's the subject of the verb "to think"?
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    This is like my saying I have no "data" that the mitochondrion is the site of cellular respiration because I'm not a biologist; I'm just blindly "believing" the religion of a mob of biologists. Cellular respiration fact doesn't put modern civilization at risk, so there's no armchair biologist denial of it.

    BTW, I think the organelles' function is more certain than AGW. They're only analogous in that I'm not an expert in either one. In any case, I accept scientific opinion over what I wish were true.
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    My friend, you and I differ on this point. I am ambiguous on it being true, but I have no data beyond "mob rule" that it is. Sorry, not enough. Not different than religion or the unquestioned superiority of Japanese cars. Just noise, until it is not.
    BTW - Ford invented the NiMH battery tech that the original Prius used.
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Indeed. You are now a normal skeptic. Be careful! The world is against us, and they seem to have no such "being right" hurdle.
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Right, just like killing your firstborn if God tells you to. The best argument the shut a Climatologist (or Christian) down.
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Show me, and Technocracy. Simple. You want the steering wheel, you show us all you deserve it. Not less.

    Still think "A=A" is noise.
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    FM is an excellent acronym. Quite understandable.

    Any thoughts on how can the ignorant be FM-educated to support the right answers?
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  • Posted by $ 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Space propulsion using nuclear power is not uncommon. It has overwhelmingly the highest specific total thrust. Many satellites use ion propulsion for positioning. A PWR may not be the right answer, but another technology might work well in space, where heat dissipation is a main problem.
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  • Posted by CircuitGuy 9 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    "oh wait now its just climate change since "consensus of grant beggars" does not equate to proof."
    There's no denying that. There's millions to be made studying the climate. The trouble is there's tens of trillions of dollars (yes, 10^13) of economic activity associated with burning stuff. This is why people deny reality.
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