USA Politics (redux)

Started by bhodges, November 10, 2020, 01:09:34 PM

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Karl Henning

And there's no want of human rights issues within the thread's purview.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Justice Dept. sues Texas over state redistricting maps, citing discrimination against Latinos
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Sidney Powell group raised more than $14 million spreading election falsehoods
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Trump SPAC under investigation by financial regulators
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 06, 2021, 10:27:54 AM
Justice Dept. sues Texas over state redistricting maps, citing discrimination against Latinos

I'm thrilled. As long as I don't get Louis Gohmert back.

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 06, 2021, 10:29:59 AM
Sidney Powell group raised more than $14 million spreading election falsehoods

I'm blasé. If you want to spend your life savings on those douchebags, more power to you.

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 06, 2021, 10:31:10 AM
Trump SPAC under investigation by financial regulators

I'm unsurprised. SOB is crookeder than a dog's hind leg.

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 06, 2021, 10:27:54 AM
Justice Dept. sues Texas over state redistricting maps, citing discrimination against Latinos
Yes!  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

drogulus


     The West's Nuclear Mistake

All energy choices entail trade-offs. Wind interferes with migratory birds and despoils open vistas. Solar panels are manufactured by coerced labor. Fabricating the panels—and disposing of them—can exude hazardous materials into the environment. Nuclear energy, too, has costs and hazards: radiation risks in the present; the disposal of spent fuel that must be safeguarded for centuries to come. But no other technology can so massively and so rapidly substitute for carbon-emitting electrical generation. No government that really regarded climate change as its top energy priority would close nuclear plants before the end of their useful lives.

The world is warming because political systems find it hard to act today against the problems of tomorrow. Balancing present fears against future dangers is difficult. Nuclear seems scary. Climate change seems remote. And so in Germany and in California, politicians protect themselves in the here and now with choices whose costs will be paid decades later.

In American eyes, Merkel's reputation has benefited from the comparison with Donald Trump, who singled her out as the democratic leader he disliked most. American journalists even touted her as the true leader of the free world, to jab at an American president who had abdicated that role. There is much to appreciate about her reticent style of leadership. But history may judge that, on one of the most consequential issues of her chancellorship, Merkel not only led from behind; she led in the wrong direction. And unfortunately for the world, Americans seem determined to follow Merkel's path.
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MusicTurner

#3349
There's increased discussion in Europe about expanding nuclear power again; Macron for example has big plans.

'Nuclear energy, too, has costs and hazards: radiation risks in the present; the disposal of spent fuel that must be safeguarded for centuries to come.'

No, it tends to be considerably more than that. For example, the Finnish storage facility used for such deposits calculates with 100,000 years of storage of the nuclear waste, as a necessary range.

drogulus

Quote from: MusicTurner on December 08, 2021, 07:28:10 AM
There's increased discussion in Europe about expanding nuclear power again; Macron for example has big plans.

'Nuclear energy, too, has costs and hazards: radiation risks in the present; the disposal of spent fuel that must be safeguarded for centuries to come.'

No, it tends to be considerably more than that. For example, the Finnish storage facility used for such deposits calculates with 100,000 years of storage of the nuclear waste, as a necessary range.

     Long term storage is not a technical problem, it's a political one. The Finns are not proposing to store nuclear waste, they are doing it. I see no serious problem in doing what we do.
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Karl Henning

The mind reels.
Quote from: MusicTurner on December 08, 2021, 07:28:10 AM
There's increased discussion in Europe about expanding nuclear power again; Macron for example has big plans.

'Nuclear energy, too, has costs and hazards: radiation risks in the present; the disposal of spent fuel that must be safeguarded for centuries to come.'

No, it tends to be considerably more than that. For example, the Finnish storage facility used for such deposits calculates with 100,000 years of storage of the nuclear waste, as a necessary range.

The mind reels.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

MusicTurner

"Can you lend us a bit of environmental insecurity, only potentially catastrophic? Don't worry, it will be over in 100,000 years".

drogulus

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on December 08, 2021, 11:05:15 AM
The mind reels.


     Would it be worse if it was a billion years? What do reeling minds advise we do with radioactive waste? I say we store it in bunkers underground surrounded by a fence with signs that have evil symbols on them, and keep the stuff there until we figure out how to transmute it to safe isotopes.

     Accelerator Transmutation of Waste

     It probably won't take 100,000 years to do this, but I can wait.
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fbjim

Quote from: MusicTurner on December 08, 2021, 11:10:17 AM
"Can you lend us a bit of environmental insecurity, only potentially catastrophic? Don't worry, it will be over in 100,000 years".

the problem with this is that you're raising a potential environmental catastrophe but we're already dealing with an actual environmental catastrophe in climate change


in lieu of a drastic reduction of energy usage, which isn't going to happen unless severe foundational changes to human society occur, this is one of the more realistic options available to us

Fëanor

#3355
Quote from: drogulus on December 08, 2021, 07:13:20 AM
     The West's Nuclear Mistake

All energy choices entail trade-offs. Wind interferes with migratory birds and despoils open vistas. Solar panels are manufactured by coerced labor. Fabricating the panels—and disposing of them—can exude hazardous materials into the environment. Nuclear energy, too, has costs and hazards: radiation risks in the present; the disposal of spent fuel that must be safeguarded for centuries to come. But no other technology can so massively and so rapidly substitute for carbon-emitting electrical generation. No government that really regarded climate change as its top energy priority would close nuclear plants before the end of their useful lives.

The world is warming because political systems find it hard to act today against the problems of tomorrow. Balancing present fears against future dangers is difficult. Nuclear seems scary. Climate change seems remote. And so in Germany and in California, politicians protect themselves in the here and now with choices whose costs will be paid decades later.

In American eyes, Merkel's reputation has benefited from the comparison with Donald Trump, who singled her out as the democratic leader he disliked most. American journalists even touted her as the true leader of the free world, to jab at an American president who had abdicated that role. There is much to appreciate about her reticent style of leadership. But history may judge that, on one of the most consequential issues of her chancellorship, Merkel not only led from behind; she led in the wrong direction. And unfortunately for the world, Americans seem determined to follow Merkel's path.


Of course nuclear is the way to go.  Up-to-date technologies are extremely safe:  nukes are as safe as any form of energy production and lowest in emissions. New tech will make it much safer still.
Wind and solar are apparently close, they are variable depending on the weather.

Objection to nuclear energy is simply irrational and that irrationality can no longer be tolerated give the impending global warming catastrophe.  See ...https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy

Fëanor

Quote from: drogulus on December 08, 2021, 11:04:11 AM
     Long term storage is not a technical problem, it's a political one. The Finns are not proposing to store nuclear waste, they are doing it. I see no serious problem in doing what we do.

That's right.  The shear volume of waste is very small and can be store effectively forever is necessary.
Nuclear power technologies exist that can reuse wastes to further reduce volumes and store requirements accordingly.

BasilValentine

It's even possible that nuclear fusion will become viable in less than 100,000 years.

krummholz

Google "IFR reactor" for an example of a design that recycles nuclear waste to extract even more energy from it, and in the end, produces only small quantities of end-product waste that must be sequestered over long time scales. This technology has existed for over 35 years now; the only barrier to implementing it on a commercial scale is political, mainly a very remote risk of diversion into weapons applications (it's a "breeder"-type reactor).

krummholz

Quote from: BasilValentine on December 08, 2021, 12:44:19 PM
It's even possible that nuclear fusion will become viable in less than 100,000 years.

Maybe even less than 100 years.