sept 9th, 2007
the entire nuclear hoo-haa is based on a mercantilist approach by the us -- they want to sell lots of reactors to unthinking idiots like the indian government (sort of like they bought manhattan for $24 worth of trinkets from the local native americans).
since the business of the us is business, the us govt is supporting its industry to the hilt. the industry is looking for scale by selling the toxic stuff to the half-wits (much like the chinese sell lead-encased toys, toothpaste with poison etc.)
a nice bonus for the us government: it will finally have managed the 'cap, rollback and eliminate' scenario they have been salivating over for a long time. the NPT is aimed squarely at forcing india to do this, for instance. so is CTBT, etc.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9762843
4 comments:
Nizhal,
Sometimes it is hard to believe you are serious. Do you really think that the NRC will simply allow any manufacturer to "cut and paste" a reactor together? Chernobyl was a case of unsafe design practice without any oversight by an indpendent authority. In the US with the power of local government something like Chernobyl is all but impossible. If you think that making a nuclear reactor is simply like making toys and toothpaste, discussing anything with you is a waste of time.
truti,
it is precisely because making nuclear reactors is not like making "toys and toothpaste" that we should cease to trust in Yankee technology (No? - well look they even got beat in making cheaper, fuel efficient, more reliable cares to the Japanese - why not the same in nuclear technology?)
As for the far-reaching power of government in US - well actually US business influence reaches further. Where was the government with Bush's "Clean Air Act"? - right on - egging everyone on for more "clean air"
I have been reading your (misplaced) confidence in the Yanks and in nuke energy in general. Brahma's article in HT today is instructive. If you ask me Hydel power in the NE is the way to go. It will help us develop that area as well.
Even if nuke power is the preference - we would do better to fund research into our fast breeder reactor program using the money we are buying foreign (read American) nuclear reactors with. Better than high-priced, OPEC-like cartel led Uranium.
Or here is an absurd parallel for illustrative purpose only. Let's presume that there is a certain kind of oil available only in Saudi Arabia, that only the Saudi's have the ability to refine . Let's pay the Saudi's money to build capital-intensive refineries for the said oil in India and forever make ourselves dependent on their goodwill to give us the oil to keep the refineries running. Does this make sense? - but is it not the same thing we are doing with Uranium reactors? - just substitute the Saudi's with the US controlled NSG.
are you out of your mind? do the words "three mile island" mean anything to you? what, the "power of us local government" was asleep at the wheel? these fission reactors are complicated stuff, and nobody quite knows how to run them. indians are inviting many nuclear bhopals.
also, you don't get the point about mercantilism. so i'll spell it out for you. the chinese government supports chinese manufacturers of faulty products, exactly like the us government supports us manufacturers of faulty products.
not clear which is greater: your ignorance or your arrogance.
Truti,
You got to be kidding man. Find out when was the last reactor built in US and it’s cost and the reason why it took so long to build and why they haven’t built another one after that.
Power of local government? Ask the people from New Orleans. The local government let people drown while hundreds of school buses were sitting in the yard. Freakin idiots ate the money that was supposed to be used for strengthening the floodwalls. When all this mess happened after repeated warnings what is the chance of local government having hands on control over sophisticated nuclear technology? Get real.
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