Dereck (KF5LWJ):
With all due respect...

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Brian with all do respect, most of what you have said are man made problems and way out of date."
Nothing out of date about my nuclear plant info - and none of it dates from WWII. Shippingport (the oldest commercial plant) went on line on 1958, 13 years AFTER the war. San Onofre was a more modern plant, was completely refurbished during the last decade and then taken off line just a few years ago due to systemic leaks in the primary cooling loop and small radiation leaks to the outside. It's just down the road from me.
There are about a hundred operating, commercial, power generating reactors in the USA and about 40 that have been decommissioned due to age, persistent leaks or accidents - more every day. Most of the operating plants in the USA are quite old, with the newest (two) being in Tennessee.
The events I described are pretty well distributed over 60 years. And they are not the only incidents. And the consequences of these incidents have in each case, with the exception of San Onofre, resulted in permanent abandonment of the area. That's a pretty big consequence.
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France, Japan, Russia, and China have no spent fuel rod problems, nor should the USA. "
The USA has NOT handled spent fuel reprocessing well. But neither has it supplied reprocessed fuel to questionable 3rd party nations intent on building a nuclear arsenal (explosive or simply poisonous), the way some other nuclear capable countries have. Our poor handling of this matter is a problem in the making. A big one. Glad you agree!
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Chernobyl was a WW-II reactor and the Russians caused the accident by seeing what happens if you turn off the cooling system."
Chernobyl experienced a hypercriticality event that lead to a steam explosion AFTER numerous safeties had been disabled - for what was basically a safety test, Ironic.
THREE MILE ISLAND suffered a cooling system event that lead to their partial core melt-down. And a bad movie.
Don't even get me started about Homer Simpson and Springfield Nuclear!

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The Smart Grid being developed by utilities and government are fast breeder reactors, one in every neighborhood like cell towers that can fit in a home size basement out of sight and mind."
I remember that dream - from the '60's. What a great opportunity to put a nuclear disaster in your neighborhood. The ultra-low enrichment reactors were supposed to be self-moderating and very safe - unless they leaked, which is a persistent problem. Or unless the sodium cooled cores caught fire (in some proposed more compact approaches, others had only a single water cooling loop). And they are NOT small due the the use of steam generation. Turbines, pumps, cooling loops and towers are never 'basement sized".
As far as using "fast breeder reactors" - and putting them in every neighborhood... I don't think so. A byproduct of that process is Plutonium, the deadliest poison on earth. I don't think it'll get the
UL Seal of Approval any day soon.
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Unlike California, TX is not going to put up with that nonsense policy anymore coming from the left coast island called Austin."
Ummmm... Dereck .... Texas just fell into that deep pit hook, line and sinker, deeper and farther than California ever did - and will be fixing the problem for the next ten years, IF they decide to act on it. And it's NOT just Texas and California that have neglected power grids. This problem is widespread.
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Physically impossible to transport power across country without loosing most of it transporting from point A to B."
Maybe - think" "Room temperature superconductors." THAT would be a game-changer, wouldn't it?
Regardless, there are plenty of 1,000 mile transmission line up and running, and a few that approach 2,000 miles. And with HVDC its estimated to be economically feasible up to 4,000 miles or so, with current prime power sources. And IF we use renewables, loss is not quite as important.
The REAL problem is STORING the generated renewable solar, wind and even tidal power for use when it is needed, and then maintaining a reliable reserve capacity to use when these "periodic" sources go offline.
Using renewables without planning and care can and has destabilized electrical grids, now that it makes up a significant fraction of prime power.This is a PART of what happened in Texas.
BTW - utilities very likely will not have the last laugh- they may just screw up - never underestimate the power of stupidity. In the Enron scandal, the company was destroyed and major executives responsible for the mess went to jail or died (in some interesting ways).
Dereck - I respect your opinion, but we just disagree on these issues.
Best Regards,
Brian - K6BRN