NHK: Thyroid cancer found in 18 Fukushima children

[wtmusic]

53. Funny you mention, nuclear waste can be reused.

The reactors at Fukushima are 40 years old. Newer designs leave 96% less waste, and can actually burn the waste we already have:

"...Dewan and Massie’s design is fuel-agnostic in the sense that it can run on either uranium or thorium; as the name implies, its signal feature is that it can consume spent fuel from conventional light-water reactors.

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Liquid-fuel reactors, such as MSRs, also offer inherent safety advantages: because the fuel is liquid, it expands when heated, thus slowing the rate of nuclear reactions and making the reactor self-governing. Also, they’re built like bathtubs, with a drain in the bottom that’s blocked by a “freeze plug.” If anything goes wrong, the freeze plug melts and the reactor core drains in to a shielded underground container. Essentially, if Transatomic’s design works as advertised, MSRs could solve the two problems that have bedeviled the nuclear power industry: safety and waste."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/pikeresearch/2012/09/27/a-pair-of-mit-scientists-try-to-transform-nuclear-power/

By the way, this reactor design has already been tested and proven to work.

I believe everyone posting here values in the environment, but we have different beliefs as to what is best. I believe strongly that nuclear in general, and MSR reactors in particular, have the potential to solve the world's energy problems in coming decades. Every technology has an associated risk, but IMO the risk of unabated climate change is the greatest of all.

thanks for civil discussion