Free Talk Live

Toshiba may team up with Bill Gates to develop small nuclear reactors. The reactors could work for about 100 years without refueling. They could be launched fairly easily by states and cities. They provide emission-free energy. You probably remember the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

So why on earth are we using uranium? As you may recall, research into the mechanization of nuclear reactions was initially driven not by the desire to make energy, but by the desire to make bombs. And here we come to it: Thorium reactors do not produce plutonium, which is what you need to make a nuke.How ironic.
The fact that thorium reactors could not produce fuel for nuclear weapons meant the better reactor fuel got short shrift, yet today we would love to be able to clearly differentiate a country’s nuclear reactors from its weapons program.

VERNON, Vt. - The latest news to come out of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is that a soil sample from the shore of the Connecticut River has tested positive for a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, health officials in that state said Wednesday.

The samples, reportedly taken on two dates in July, tested positive for small amounts of tritium, according to Dr. Harry Chen, the commissioner of Vermont's Health Department.

FTA: "... In the middle of a presidential campaign, Hurricane Sandy has put Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on the sidelines, reminding us how much we count on mayors and governors to protect us, to rescue us and to keep our streets, buses, subways, airports and commuter rails running. After a season of debates about the deficit, taxes and health care, Americans have discovered that they cannot survive without government: to provide clean water, reliable transportation systems, and emergency services when floods, fires and power outages force them to abandon their homes.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating a radioactive release into the Mississippi River from the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson.

Sandy's aftermath demonstrates (again) how the use of force helps no one. If the storm demonstrates anything, it's how government force is not the correct response to any situation; especially natural disasters.

Troopers operating a sobriety checkpoint Friday night at the Mattydale Thruway exit charged a man with possession of untaxed cigarettes, a misdemeanor, after they noticed he had a box filled with nearly 30 cartons of cigarettes in his car.

The problem, Assemblyman John F. McKeon said, is utility poles just aren't as sturdy as they could be. It's potentially making outages worse than necessary and putting line workers in danger, he said. But he's not quite sure how much his proposed bill to to require sturdier poles would ultimately cost utility companies, or how much of a difference it would make after a major storm — like Sandy or Irene. He had ballpark estimates, but not specific figures.

North Korea and Iran: ‘Evil’ nuclear fusion?

Two members of the ‘axis of evil’ conspiring to make nuclear weapons? Such a nightmare scenario would be dreadful indeed. But with unnamed sources claiming North Korea is helping Iran go nuclear, something about the plot seems dreamt up.

George W. Bush’s long-awaited chance to utter an “I told you so” may have arrived, as reports of nuclear weapons cooperation between Iran and North Korea surface in Asia.