I doubt that the world will become dependent on nuclear power (or at least the present form of nuclear power). Nuclear research still continues. The Atomic Energy of Canada Limited organization has been studying that for the past two decades and have arrived at a number of conclusions. By burying nuclear waste 500-1000 meters below the surface in plutonic rock, with multiple barriers to protect the surrounding environment and human health from radioactive decay1.
By looking at extreme models of environmental damage, ideal locations within and without Canada have been studied, and the amounts of radiation even in the extreme cases are less than 2% of the natural background radiation from Carbon-14 in our bones, astral2radiation, and the Sun itself. It is unfortunate with what happened at Chernobyl. If they had surrounded the reactor with a concrete barrier, it wouldn't have been exposed to the air, and wouldn't have melted3 down. The CANDU reactors have set new standards in Nuclear Reactor technology. Even the backup systems have backup systems. If the money and resources are invested in maintaining safe nuclear power, we can all benefit without any danger to the environment.
1 — радиоактивный распад; 2 — звездный; 3 — плавиться
Stephen English
I have a question: when they bury nuclear waste 500 to 1000 meters underground, what sort of precautions do they take to account for seis-
A. Atomic Energy
mic activity? I would imagine that anything resembling an earthquake or volcanic activity would cause quite a disaster.
David Graham
To answer your question, Stephen, the studies done by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited have taken seismic activity into account with their radiation models. These conclusions are that if disposal vaults' are built in plutonic rock about 500—1000 metres below the surface, there is no seismic activity (or very negligible2 activity of only 1 or 2 on the Richter scale). The seismic activity is lowest at the centre of a tectonic plate, which offers numerous potential, non-hazardous disposal sites on each continent. You could live over top of a disposal facility and still receive less radiation that living in any moderately sized city.
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Peter Green
Sure, it's very convenient to dispose of nuclear waste in the centres of tectonic plates now... but if the world were to become dependent upon nuclear power, the centres would soon fill up and we would have to find disposal areas that are less safe. Nobody thought we'd have a landfill problem I believe that the present-day nuclear technology is merely a step to meet the energy demands until sustained fusion can be achieved (which probably won't be very long). In the meantime however, the waste accumulated from 50 years of nuclear power is still very little compared to other sources, and it won't be that long before — fusion is sustainable.
Gregory Bennet
I agree with David's point about nuclear fusion. Although regular fusion was obtained during the 1950's, it still reacted at temperatures to the order of many thousand degrees Kelvin. These extreme temperatures rival' the sun's, making it very impractical for commercial use. Cold fusion namely is the solution. This reaction is theorized to occur at room temperature, making it quite containable. All that the fusion plants would need is a large supply of water, and they burn clean. There
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114 Section II. Supplementary Reading
A. Atomic Energy
are still even more profound power sources suggested for the next millennium. Vacuum energy was proposed by Arthur С Clarke in his latest novel 3001. Science Fiction aside, researchers are still scrambling 2to find cleaner more efficient sources of power. We've come a long way from fire being our primary energy source, however I'm sure the search is far from over.
1 - соперничают; 2 — работают с большим трудом, натужно
Alex Essex
I personally feel that with an incredible discovery such as an unlimited (or vast) source of energy would bring in a new era. If there are no (effective) limits to the energy, then there is no way for profits to occur. Look at the oil industry: as resources dwindle, the costs of maintaining the demand increase, and so the price increases, and by the time the products come to the consumer, the corporations have made billions. But if there is no limit, no risk of running out, then one cannot expect to make a profit.
A civilization with little technological (or social or cultural or religious, etc.) advance will not last long. Chaos theory describes how there is order in chaos, something that the Brahmins understood. Too little change is as destructive as too much. We can only strive for the best. We must look beyond the horizon and see the bigger picture.
Brendan D. Graham
I feel that the true problem with nuclear power is not the waste, because there are ways to deal with that, but the money involved to run them. In order to understand what it truly takes, in the United States, a nuclear power plant must run for over 15 years to recover the costs of operation and building, and that is with huge government subsidies. In truth, Nuclear Energy is not cost competitive for the energy industry. However, our current use of coal and oil is also not a logical choice. Although relatively inexpensive in operation and maintenance, the environmental costs of its use far outweigh' this. The solution at the current point should be the use of natural gas as a form of energy supply. Even though it is a fossil fuel, it burns very
cleanly and cheaply, thereby being — cost competitive and environmentally benign2.
1 — перевешивают; 2 — благоприятный
Harley Nuss
Nuclear fission is fine and well, but there are just too many problems with it. Let's not ignore the recent successes in Nuclear FUSION. Just this July, Sandia National Laboratories used the world's fastest supercomputer to find a way to increase their Z accelerator output from 500,000 to 1,500,000 degrees. This is an important step since a fusion reaction can be maintained with as little as 2 million degrees. With fusion, there is no waste or radiation hazards and just one gram of fuel can supply forty times the world's current energy needs for one year. Maybe we should hold off building more nuclear power plants. Nuclear fusion is coming soon.
2. Read the texts again and give the summary of the texts in Russian.
^^^Ш В. RENEWABLES ^^^