
Bill Gates urges U.S. to take the lead in nuclear power - jmsflknr
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/china-option-fades-bill-gates-urges-u-s-take-lead-nuclear-power-good-planet/
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woodandsteel
I'm sort of half sold on the idea of nuclear. My problem is their past
unfulfilled promises lead me to doubt anything is really going to happen.

For about two decades now I have been reading nuclear boosters talk about new
advanced tech that would soon overcome all of nuclear's disadvantages. But
nothing has ever become ready for real, mass adoption.

And so I am assuming that by the time in the future when something is finally
ready, solar and wind will be doing so well there will be no point in putting
any major effort into nuclear.

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sunstone
This is an interesting call given the cost reduction curves of wind and solar
over time. It's hard to see how nuclear has a chance unless it's some kind of
'backyard nuclear' like Westinghouse is promising but still it would be an
uphill battle given where wind and solar will be in ten or fifteen years.

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downrightmike
What about all the nuclear waste that is already building up and has no where
to go? All of it is sitting in water pools outside of the reactor because
there is no where to put it so that it can decay safely. And there are all the
issues with the companies who make the fuel rods. There was a incident where a
employee thought it would be a cool picture if they put the rods next to each
other. They were literally lucky that it didn't cause an uncontrolled
reaction. Those companies have a long track record of lax policies and being
behind schedule on making the fuel in the first place. It is a extremely
deadly and long lived threat, and that is before we put people into the
equation.

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yostrovs
Read up on Yucca Mountain. It was a reasonable proposal for storage.

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downrightmike
The project has been basically on hold since 1987.
[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/03/yucc...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/03/yucca-
mountain-congress-works-revive-dormant-nuclear-waste-dump/664153002/)

