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Nuclear Ain't Green

October 8, 2008 | Carbondale, Colorado | Vetting explained

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wfp

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10,000 years is a very long time.

 

 

During that time, many earth changes, including earthquakes, have occured and will continue to occur in the future.

 

 

Yet proponents of nuclear energy seem to overlook the fact that spent nuclear fuel rods have a half-life of 10,000 years.  That means they are still 50% radioactive after 10,000 years.  They are still 25% radioactive after another 10,000 years. 10,000 years ago we were still spear-tip and arrowhead makers, living nomadic, pre-historic lifestyles.

 

 

What will we be leaving our children's children's distant descendents if the containers that hold spent nuclear fuel get damaged or crushed by earthquake activity, or they deteriorate and leak radioactive waste into the ground water supply?

 

 

Has anyone thought about the hazards we may be leaving our descendents in order to satisfy immediate desires for alternative energy supplies?  There are plenty of alternative sources of energy that we should develop before we include nuclear.  

 

 

Nuclear energy, because of its hazards, should be a last resort.  If we continue to use nuclear energy we should be prepared to pay the cost to lift nuclear waste by rockets into the sun before we make the mistake of storing in underground caverns.

 

 

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