Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:
Profile image
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

Nuclear Power Is the Safest Energy Source

Wednesday, August 15, 2012 23:32
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

n/a

For power generation on earth, which of the major energy sources is the safest? The table below shows the answer.

Most people never stop to think that the pursuit of coal and natural gas as energy sources to run power plants causes the death of thousands of people. If nuclear power had caused one tenth of the number of deaths caused by coal over the years covered in the table above, it would have been outlawed by now.

Okay, but what about nuclear power on board the Gen1 Enterprise. Those reactors are so close to people. That must be dangerous, right?

Well, no. Almost all of the studies done on spacecraft that use electric propulsion to carry humans to Mars assume nuclear reactors are on board to generate electricity. Thus, the idea of using nuclear power to create electricity to drive the engines is not at all new or unique to the Enterprise.

Nuclear reactors used to generate electricity can create huge amounts of power in a relatively small size and small mass. And they can operate for years without having to be refueled. For these reasons, nuclear power is extremely attractive to spacecraft researchers when they think about human missions far beyond earth.

Regarding safety, people travel in nuclear subs and nuclear aircraft carriers every day. In fact, tens of thousands of people are doing that right now as you read this paragraph. Nuclear powered subs have been used since the 1950s.

The Gen1 Enterprise has the added advantage that a nuclear reactor can be quickly jettisoned away in the extremely unlikely case that an accident occurs.

And finally, nuclear waste can be launched from the Enterprise in containers and sent into the sun where the waste then disintegrates. The sun is the perfect place for waste disposal. Thus, the challenge of deposing of nuclear waste, which is a common problem on earth, is solved.

http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.