Christian Democrats in the United States
Global Issues - Non-nuclear StrategyWe support a strong defensive strategy, but also a total elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world. A nuclear-armed terrorist cannot be deterred by a nuclear response. If the United States can get along with the overwhelming majority of nations, and deal with others through conventional force, aiming all this doomsday at the world's citizens only serves to make people feel threatened before they have ever offended or even cared about our society. The risk of accidental or terrorist use of nuclear arms increases every day. We must direct all efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons, but the United States must live up to its own standards and goals. We submit that if the United States takes the lead in nuclear disarmament, all civil nations of the world will follow voluntarily.
For power generation, nuclear fission (splitting uranium) is and always will be unsafe, because the waste products remain radioactive for so many centuries, potentially causing birth defects and diseases for hundreds of years. Nuclear fusion (how our sun works) is worth researching, because the potential higher power yield would leave much less radioactive waste.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]fission and fusion power
For power generation, nuclear fission (splitting uranium) is and always will be unsafe, because the waste products remain radioactive for so many centuries, potentially causing birth defects and diseases for hundreds of years.Nuclear fusion (how our sun works) is worth researching, because the potential higher power yield would leave much less radioactive waste, in a form that can be more easily contained while it dissipates.
Fission must be phased out. Don't believe the pundits when they tell you that uranium fission nuclear power can be made safe. They represent an industry caught up in a cycle of profiteering at the expense of our health. Radioactive heavy metals are an abomination that have no place in a healthy human habitat. If we promote a long-term uranium fission power strategy, we will have more radioactive waste than can be managed safely. We strongly object to the blind faith of the European Christian Democrats who support nuclear fission power, and to their lack of vision for a healthy future free from dependence on oil. If nothing else, they are willing to sacrifice the health of nuclear energy workers who will inevitably suffer from accidents and mishandling of those waste materials.
And, some by-products of these materials and facilities used to generate power can be turned into weapons. There is no such risk from a theoretical proton fusion
reactor.
To make proton fusion work, what we need is more research in super-conductivity - materials that conduct electricity with little resistance at relatively high temperatures. For all of its scary possibilities, fundamental research at the Large Hadron Collider seems like it might yield a greater understanding of the fundamental physics of matter and energy, which might contribute to our ability to create these materials.
The potential for nuclear fusion power is infinite. Except there are perverse incentives of the energy industry not to make such a quantum leap forward in power generation. While the initial plants might be expensive, hot fusion plasma reactors could potentially provide nearly free, virtually limitless electricity. If fusion can work, you can bet that the petro-chemical industry would do everything in their power to keep us from developing that potential.
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