[ RadSafe ] Rational Thought

[Steven Dapra]

Oct. 2

         Where do you propose to store all this wind so that it can 
be used when it is needed?

         What does this ruthenium iron alloy have to do with 
anything?  Ruthenium is a rare metal (74th most common), and only 
about 12 tons are mined per year.  Mined --- and we all know how much 
Greens like mining.

         See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenium for more.  Ru can 
be extracted from spent nuclear fuels.  Heh, heh.  Seriously --- it 
can.  Let's build nukes to get Ru so we can use wind power.  Rube 
Goldberg, where are you when we need you?

Steven Dapra


At 12:05 PM 10/2/2011, you wrote:
>Franz Schoenhofer wrote:
>
> > What has "nuclear" and "rational thought" to do with each other?
> >
> > In my home country Austria, there is legislation underway to forbid
> > import of "nuclear electricity" and even more, electricity generation
> > from non-renewable sources should be abandoned at the latest until 2050.
> >...
> > I am not joking, this is the idea of our parliament, initiated by the very
> > small minority of greens.
>
>Could this be because wind power has become two cents per kilowatt
>hour less expensive than coal-fired generation over the past year?  Also
>Fischer-Tropsch carbon neutral methane and other fuel synthesis has
>become far more efficient in the past three or four years due to a new
>ruthenium iron alloy which can be plated on to electrolysis anodes.
>Given that sufficient wind to address daytime needs produces a huge
>nighttime surplus, the effective cost of fuel synthesis for transportation
>and storage (for intermittent wind leveling) is lower than fossil cost, too.
>
>At least in the US, this year wind turbine production and orders have
>exceeded the extrapolation of its exponential curve, which would now
>predict that virtually 100% of US power will be from wind before 2030.
>Even without any subsidies, it is foolish for any farm in even low wind
>regions to forgo installing turbines, banks are on board, and in windy
>regions they pay for themselves in eight months without subsidies.
>
>But I agree with the sentiment:  When the pendulum swings, it often
>swings too far.  Most everyone is going to be as surprised as I am to
>find me on the other side of the debate as we struggle to hold on to
>enough research reactors to produce medical isotopes and plutonium
>for the space program.
>
>Sincerely,
>James Salsman