The Next Four Years

[Haggis@wk]

....until it reaches Middle Earth.

Well that'll annoy the Mahars!!!

[OperaTenor]

Radwaste :

Thanks OT, Shap, B'jon, et al for your interest. It is a subject dear to my heart.

The idea of leaving a mess for future generations does not set well. It goes against the notion of responsibility. I understand that. I dislike deep well injection of municipal sewage, too.


we ought to invest more effort in reducing radwaste to manageable volume and either making a neat long term repository for it, or shuttling it into the sun where it'd get incinerated back down to elemental hydrogen(or whatever old Sol's nuclear furnace is making these days perhaps carbon.)

It would be a way better investment of energy manpower and money than compressing CO2 and hiding it. That's just crazy..

Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas!

In a very rough approximation the following trace gases contribute to the greenhouse effect:
60% water vapor
20% carbon dioxide (CO2)
The rest (~20%) is caused by ozone (O3), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and several other species.

http://www.espere.net/Unitedkingdom/wat ... apour.html

a.

The DOE has a rather eye-popping list of theoretical methods of dealing with radwaste, then follows up by shooting each theory full of holes(correctly, I might add). It reads like a script for Coast To Coast AM.

[Haggis@wk]

Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana has a unique analysis on cap-and-trade that bears consideration. He sees it not just as an overall tax burden on the energy consumer, although he certainly agrees that it is, nor as a penalty for fossil-fuel producers, which Daniels also sees. Daniels suggests that the real reason for cap-and-trade is for liberal, coastal states to suck tax dollars out of the Rust Belt in a case of interstate imperialism:

Quite simply, it looks like imperialism. This bill would impose enormous taxes and restrictions on free commerce by wealthy but faltering powers — California, Massachusetts and New York — seeking to exploit politically weaker colonies in order to prop up their own decaying economies. Because proceeds from their new taxes, levied mostly on us, will be spent on their social programs while negatively impacting our economy, we Hoosiers decline to submit meekly.

The Waxman-Markey legislation would more than double electricity bills in Indiana. Years of reform in taxation, regulation and infrastructure-building would be largely erased at a stroke. In recent years, Indiana has led the nation in capturing international investment, repatriating dollars spent on foreign goods or oil and employing Americans with them. Waxman-Markey seems designed to reverse that flow. “Closed: Gone to China” signs would cover Indiana’s stores and factories.

Our state’s share of national income has been slipping for decades, but it is offset in part by living costs some 8% lower than the national average. Doubled utility bills for low-income Hoosiers would be an especially cruel consequence of the Waxman bill. Forgive us for not being impressed at danglings of welfare-like repayments to some of those still employed, with some fraction of the dollars extracted from our state.

And for what? No honest estimate pretends to suggest that a U.S. cap-and-trade regime will move the world’s thermometer by so much as a tenth of a degree a half century from now. My fellow citizens are being ordered to accept impoverishment for a policy that won’t save a single polar bear.

This is yet another demonstration of the administration’s reliance on static analysis for tax policy. Daniels correctly notes that the policy will hammer Indiana’s economy, which means that tax revenues will fall in general, but also that less energy will get used — which means less revenue from cap-and-trade.

Even in my most pessimistic projections I never thought Obama would go so far to destroy American Capitalism and gut American industry. This is an incredible disaster looming just over the horizon.

[Shapley]

Even in my most pessimistic projections I never thought Obama would go so far to destroy American Capitalism and gut American industry.

I expected him to try. I just didn't expect the American people to cheer him on as he did it.

We are handing him the knife with which he will slit our throats. Comforting, isn't it.

[analog]

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf63.html

Used fuel and reprocessing

When China started to develop nuclear power, a closed fuel cycle strategy was also formulated and declared at an IAEA conference in 1987. The spent fuel activities involve: at-reactor storage; away-from-reactor storage; and reprocessing. CNNC has drafted a state regulation on civil spent fuel treatment as the basis for a long-term government program.

Based on expected installed capacity of 20 GWe by 2010 and 40 GWe by 2020, the annual spent fuel arisings will amount to about 600 tonnes in 2010 and 1000 tonnes in 2020, the cumulative arisings increasing to about 3800 tonnes and 12 300 tonnes, respectively. The two CANDU units, with lower burn-up, will discharge 176 tonnes of spent fuel annually.

Construction of a centralised spent fuel storage facility at Lanzhou Nuclear Fuel Complex near Yumenzhen in NW Gansu province began in 1994. The initial stage of that project has a storage capacity of 550 tonnes and could be doubled.

A pilot (50 t/yr) reprocessing plant using the Purex process was opened in 2006 at Lanzhou or Jiayuguan. This is capable of expansion to 100 t/yr and will be fully operational in 2008. A large commercial reprocessing plant based on indigenous advanced technology is planned to follow and begin operation about 2020. This is likely to be under international safeguards and situated in far western China.

In November 2007 Areva and CNNC signed an agreement to assess the feasibility of setting up a reprocessing plant for used fuel and a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant in China, representing an investment of EUR 15 billion. In mid 2008 CNNC said that the focus was on Gansu province for an 800 t/yr reprocessing plant operated by Areva from 2025.

High-level wastes will be vitrified, encapsulated and put into a geological repository some 500 metres deep. Site selection is focused on six candidate locations and will be completed by 2020. An underground research laboratory will then operate for 20 years and actual disposal is anticipated from 2050.

Early in 2008 CCNC subsidiary the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) signed an agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) to undertake research on advanced fuel cycle technologies such as recycling recovered uranium from spent PWR fuel and Generation IV nuclear energy systems. Initially this seems to mean DUPIC, the Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In Candu reactors, the main work on which so far has been in South Korea. This blossomed into a strategic agreement between AECL and the Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Company, China North Nuclear Fuel Corporation and NPIC in November 2008. The four partners will jointly develop technology for recycling used nuclear fuel from other Chinese reactors (PWRs) with up to 1.6% fissile content for use in the Qinshan 3 and 4 Candu units.

There is already industrial-scale disposal of low and intermediate-level wastes at two sites, in the northwest and at Bailong in Guangxi autonomous region of south China.

"to be or not to be.." is not the question, rather "whether to do it well."

"..operated by Areva.."... it coulda been Westinghouse; but never mind we sold them to Toshiba anyhow...

[Shapley]

Arlen Specter Finding Democrats Welcome Is A Little Shallow

The Republicans 'big tent' allowed room for Specter, even though he didn't fit the easily in the mould. Democrats, meanwhile, are mounting a primary challenge for him in the upcoming. It seems they don't find him 'Democrat enough' for their liking.

[Haggis@wk]

Obama’s legacy? China’s yuan ’set to usurp US dollar’ as world’s reserve currency.

Hmm. How could that possibly happen?

[analog]

as always my timing is off by a half decade.

Re: Is George Bush the right leader for America?

Postby analog » Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:48 am

Originally posted by Marye:


My financial advisors (an arm of a big Canadian Bank)are advising me, small time nobody cares about investor, to get my money out of the U.S.

Anybody old enough to remember Harry Browne's 1973-ish book "How to profit from the coming financial crisis" wherein he predicted an implosion of US finances, caused by debt, to occur in early eighties? He advised investing in gold or gold backed currency. I believe our media shields us from news of just how fast the dollar's value is shrinking. It has to shrink since we dont produce anything anymore. Harry missed his timing, but sure was right aboout growing debt.

If I knew how I would transfer my little savings account into Chinese Won currency, for i believe when the Won decouples from the dollar it'll go through the roof just like gold did.

But instead I guess I'll do a hillbilly diversification - bury some in mayonnaise jars, bury some in pickle jars, etc.

<small>[ 03-30-2005, 11:53 AM: Message edited by: analog ]</small>
Cogito ergo doleo.

analog
2nd Chair

Posts: 1109
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2003 12:01 am
Location: arkansas ozarks

[Haggis@wk]

A technology that’s gotten worse since the 1920s.

“I have recently been poring over a number of prewar train timetables—not surprisingly, available on eBay. They are fascinating, filled with evocations of that fabled “golden era” of train travel. “You travel with friends on The Milwaukee Road,” reads an ad in one, showing an avuncular conductor genially conversing with a jaunty, smartly dressed couple, the man on the verge of lighting a pipe. . . . But the most striking aspect of these antiquated documents is found in the tiny agate columns of arrivals and destinations. It is here that one sees the wheels of progress actually running backward.

The aforementioned Montreal Limited, for example, circa 1942, would pull out of New York’s Grand Central Station at 11:15 p.m., arriving at Montreal’s (now defunct) Windsor Station at 8:25 a.m., a little more than nine hours later. To make that journey today, from New York’s Penn Station on the Adirondack, requires a nearly 12-hour ride.

The trip from Chicago to Minneapolis via the Olympian Hiawatha in the 1950s took about four and a half hours; today, via Amtrak’s Empire Builder, the journey is more than eight hours. Going from Brattleboro, Vt., to New York City on the Boston and Maine Railroad’s Washingtonian took less than five hours in 1938; today, Amtrak’s Vermonter (the only option) takes six hours—if it’s on time, which it isn’t, nearly 75 percent of the time. . . .

Obama’s bold vision obscures a simple fact: 220 mph would be phenomenal, but we would also do well to simply get trains back up to the speeds they traveled at during the Harding administration.”

[dai bread]

Go to Japan. Their trains move with purpose. They have to. In Tokyo, they're only 2 minutes apart on suburban lines during working hours. Long-distance trains also move with purpose, unlike NZR, whose trains would happily stop in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason.

Then there are the Shinkansen. We outsiders tend to think of them as one train, but there are about 200 of them. As smooth a ride as an aircraft, and far less hassle. You don't even have to check in. More spacious than airline cattle class, too.

We in NZ can only dream of such things, but the U.S. is big enough to do them.

[OperaTenor]

http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf63.html

Used fuel and reprocessing

When China started to develop nuclear power, a closed fuel cycle strategy was also formulated and declared at an IAEA conference in 1987. The spent fuel activities involve: at-reactor storage; away-from-reactor storage; and reprocessing. CNNC has drafted a state regulation on civil spent fuel treatment as the basis for a long-term government program.

Based on expected installed capacity of 20 GWe by 2010 and 40 GWe by 2020, the annual spent fuel arisings will amount to about 600 tonnes in 2010 and 1000 tonnes in 2020, the cumulative arisings increasing to about 3800 tonnes and 12 300 tonnes, respectively. The two CANDU units, with lower burn-up, will discharge 176 tonnes of spent fuel annually.

Construction of a centralised spent fuel storage facility at Lanzhou Nuclear Fuel Complex near Yumenzhen in NW Gansu province began in 1994. The initial stage of that project has a storage capacity of 550 tonnes and could be doubled.

A pilot (50 t/yr) reprocessing plant using the Purex process was opened in 2006 at Lanzhou or Jiayuguan. This is capable of expansion to 100 t/yr and will be fully operational in 2008. A large commercial reprocessing plant based on indigenous advanced technology is planned to follow and begin operation about 2020. This is likely to be under international safeguards and situated in far western China.

In November 2007 Areva and CNNC signed an agreement to assess the feasibility of setting up a reprocessing plant for used fuel and a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication plant in China, representing an investment of EUR 15 billion. In mid 2008 CNNC said that the focus was on Gansu province for an 800 t/yr reprocessing plant operated by Areva from 2025.

High-level wastes will be vitrified, encapsulated and put into a geological repository some 500 metres deep. Site selection is focused on six candidate locations and will be completed by 2020. An underground research laboratory will then operate for 20 years and actual disposal is anticipated from 2050.

Early in 2008 CCNC subsidiary the Nuclear Power Institute of China (NPIC) signed an agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) to undertake research on advanced fuel cycle technologies such as recycling recovered uranium from spent PWR fuel and Generation IV nuclear energy systems. Initially this seems to mean DUPIC, the Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In Candu reactors, the main work on which so far has been in South Korea. This blossomed into a strategic agreement between AECL and the Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Company, China North Nuclear Fuel Corporation and NPIC in November 2008. The four partners will jointly develop technology for recycling used nuclear fuel from other Chinese reactors (PWRs) with up to 1.6% fissile content for use in the Qinshan 3 and 4 Candu units.

There is already industrial-scale disposal of low and intermediate-level wastes at two sites, in the northwest and at Bailong in Guangxi autonomous region of south China.

"to be or not to be.." is not the question, rather "whether to do it well."

"..operated by Areva.."... it coulda been Westinghouse; but never mind we sold them to Toshiba anyhow...

Once again, this is spent fuel only, and doesn't address all other forms of rad waste.

Just sayin'....

[Haggis@wk]

but the U.S. is big enough to do them.

Actually, it's too big. LA to DC in a 200mph train would take 11 hours, assuming no stops and, going by today's rail fares, would cost more than a tourist class ticket.

[Shapley]

Actually, it's too big. LA to DC in a 200mph train would take 11 hours, assuming no stops and, going by today's rail fares, would cost more than a tourist class ticket.

True, but a network of high-speed lines crossing the country could be competitive with air travel. Living as you do near the airport, you may not realize how inconvenient air travel is to those of us who live many miles from one. It can take me several hours to get from Cape Girardeu to LA, despite the fact that it is only a two hour flight (two hours to the airport, arrive two hours before the flight, etc.). As Dai noted, you can usually just step right on the train, few security hassles and you don't have to arrive hours before time. Assuming that, with stops, the high speed rail line could get me to LA in, say, 8 hours from an terminal an hour away, then I would say it could be competitive. Add the ability to get a good sleep on the 'red eye' and it would be worth the time difference.

It's not something that can be done with half-measures, though. It requires a commitment to see ti through, and the air travel industry would fight it every step of the way.

[Haggis@wk]

Actually, it's too big. LA to DC in a 200mph train would take 11 hours, assuming no stops and, going by today's rail fares, would cost more than a tourist class ticket.

True, but a network of high-speed lines crossing the country could be competitive with air travel. Living as you do near the airport, you may not realize how inconvenient air travel is to those of us who live many miles from one. It can take me several hours to get from Cape Girardeu to LA, despite the fact that it is only a two hour flight (two hours to the airport, arrive two hours before the flight, etc.). As Dai noted, you can usually just step right on the train, few security hassles and you don't have to arrive hours before time. Assuming that, with stops, the high speed rail line could get me to LA in, say, 8 hours from an terminal an hour away, then I would say it could be competitive. Add the ability to get a good sleep on the 'red eye' and it would be worth the time difference.

It's not something that can be done with half-measures, though. It requires a commitment to see ti through, and the air travel industry would fight it every step of the way.

You’re assuming that CG would be deemed worthy enough to rate a train stop. National rail will run exactly like Health Care, a rationing of resources by non-appointed bureaucrats

[Shapley]

You’re assuming that CG would be deemed worthy enough to rate a train stop. National rail will run exactly like Health Care, a rationing of resources by non-appointed bureaucrats

No, I said the terminal would be about an hour away. I was expecting the line through St. Louis or Memphis to run that close. I can dream, can't I. As it is, St. Louis, Memphis, and Nashville are the nearest major airports to me.

My preference would be a private high-speed rail line. That's how we got the railways that eventually became Amtrak.They ran efficiently for years, but interstate highways and cheap air travel put the railroads out of the passenger business. Only the government couldn't see that low-speed passenger rail wasn't necessary or profitable anymore.

The crowded and deteriorating state of the nations' highways, the inconvenience of air travel, and once-again rising cost of motor fuel may well be the perfect storm of conditions that spur investment in a new high-speed rail network.

My idea was to start with an "X" though the center of the country, - Miami to Seattle, and Portland, ME to Los Angeles. They would cross somewhere about Kansas City (and put the Miami-Kansas City leg conveniently close to Cape Girardeau...).

[analog]

if they got real smart and let you take your car along, like the Auto Train that goes from N Florida to DC, i think it'd work. But if i'm paying $25 a day to park a car and $45 or so to rent another at my destination i'll probably just drive.

I find myself more interested in the mundane mechanical aspect of keeping the rails flat and straight enough for that "glass smooth ride" at 150-200 mph. With roadbed that perfect, probably an inch or so per mile, there's not much advantage to maglev and its horrific complexity. Mother Earth is continually rumbling and settling as evidenced in S California yesterday which seems to me would contort the rails. I wonder how the Japanese manage that? Any railroad guys here?


a.

[jamiebk]

Trains (even at 200MPH) are too slow for me. Would still rather hop a 777 and have time to spare.

[dai bread]

My very fleeting observations of Japanese track suggests they're set in concrete rather than a traditional road-metal bed, but I could well be wrong. You don't get much chance to examine the track, and what's done in the stations isn't necessarily done elsewhere. All I know is that there's a lot of concrete in the system, most of it in bridges.

[BigJon@Work]

They are, but the concrete floats on a bed of stones, much like highways are built. They can absorb significant lateral ground shift with few problems. Vertical shifts would cause problems with any system.

[Haggis@wk]

The fact that government has now decayed to the point where congressmen feel safe openly admitting that they don’t know what they’re voting on suggests a civic breakdown in need of emergency repair.

I suppose this sort of thing can be excused for bills that aren’t very important. Too bad cap and trade — which will shave trillions off of GDP, per Heritage’s estimate — isn’t one of them.