Nuclear Energy, Clean Coal, Sterling Engines etc

No ration from me. Your concern is completely justified and well stated. A major part of the problem is the complete abdication of responsibility by our government. Our government allowed and supported the development of nuclear power, but then failed to do their part with reprocessing and storage. Right now most of the spent fuel sits in ponds at each location. Belatedly we have tried to make a big hole to bury it in, but that has had its share of trouble, and is an inefficient way to use fuel.

Nuclear fission as a source of power has some major drawbacks. Fusion is the holy grail, but who knows when we will ever get that to work. The bigger problem is that every other form of power generation also has some form of drawback or limitation. We may find that nuclear fission is the least objectionable alternative for the short to middle term for large scale power generation. Obviously we need to tap every other workable form, but I fear it won't be enough, unless some sort of plague kills off two-thirds of the world's population.

Speaking of population, what ever happened to the idea of population control? That used to be a common topic, but I never hear about it anymore. Without some sort of population control, it won't matter what we do with the nuclear waste.

Tom

 

To some great extent, conservation (globally) can go a long way to solving our problems. What it takes is a shift in the willingness of people to live with somewhat less. I realize that it won't be easy, and might be draconian, but the alternatives are worse.

Until we wake up to the fact that the planet is finite, and as such we have to live within our means in the broadest sense we are doomed to fail. It saddens me to hear, even now, that "we can't afford it", or "it will mean too much sacrifice", or worse still "it is our god given right to use resources!" Grow up, get over it! If we had spend some money and energy over the last ~30 years we would be way further ahead. It is time to stop borrowing from our grandchildren!

Icarus

GB, you are right, the solutions would be way easier if we were 1/3 the population! I did my part,, not kids!

 

That is an entirely plausible scenario

 

Be *very* careful when you talk like that. A guy I knew in the Army really played around, then got married, settled down, everything was going *just* fine, maybe *too* fine

So, after 16 years of marriage, one morning the doorbell rings. This 16 year old boy is standing there. He holds out his hand and says "Dad?"

:doh:

I never, ever, EVER say things like "did my part, no kids." I got fixed in 1997, so in theory, somewhere out there, I could have a son or daughter ranging in age from 11-25 or so

I don't lay awake at night, in a cold sweat, waiting for the sky to fall, thinking about it. But it is sometimes on the back of my mind.

Curse my superior reproductive organ!! Curse, I say!!