And "clean coal" will be better than nuclear...

[retired nuke]

Looks like the BILLION gallons of coal ash sludge will take a long time to clean up....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/26/tennessee.sludge/index.html

I can't imagine a scenario where a nuke could do this much damage, and get off lightly....

[WNL III]

It's not the first time that this has happened.

I would be remiss as a WVU Alum to not mention the Buffalo Creek Flood of 1972.

http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/buffcreek/buff1.html

The anti-nuclear crowd needs to realize that any alternative power source will require compromise of some kind.

Nuclear, coal, natural gas, co-gen, solar, wind(yes, even wind), you name it, all have their potential benefits and drawbacks.  Each one, in my opinion, has an appropriate application somewhere in this great country.

[alphadude]

unfortunately the coal crowd is the nuclear crowd too. thems that owns coal owns nuke. I hope Hyperion Kicks sum butt with their nuke battery.

[HydroDave63]

Better clean coal IGCC has been around for ages, check out this prototype:

http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/coalpower/cctc/summaries/wabsh/wabashrdemo.html

40+% thermal efficiency, no stupid slag piles or $400 million dollar baghouse setup. Invented here, being used overseas.

[guppy]

Does anyone know who is doing the cleanup in Tennessee?

[volfireman07]

Does anyone know who is doing the cleanup in Tennessee?

TVA was in town yesterday for a community forum.  They had good turnout.  Right now they are still assessing the damage and clearing some roads.

[USMCRADCON]

HEPACO is performing some of the work.

[withroaj]

...

The anti-nuclear crowd needs to realize that any alternative power source will require compromise of some kind.

Nuclear, coal, natural gas, co-gen, solar, wind(yes, even wind), you name it, all have their potential benefits and drawbacks.  Each one, in my opinion, has an appropriate application somewhere in this great country.

A quick shot of some compromise...

For the record I'm not opposed to wind power (hell, I'm going to put a turbine in my back yard once I can find a community with a HOA that allows it), but I'm not buying it as the answer to our energy problems, strictly based on MWe/acre.

[alphadude]

what if you just took care of your energy problems??? imagine the tears that would come from the utilities...remember the utilities lobbied to prevent the home power producer from putting surplus on the grid. fortunately some laws were passed to stop that.

[Woolyman]

Clean What... Coal!? 1 Lb. U235 + H2O can equal 25,000 TONS of Coal!!!! right or wrong? Plz explain your anwser.

[Keln]

Speaking of wind turbines...




Supposedly a UFO did it. I'm not a big believer in little green men taking joyrides at night so that cooks can get interviews with tabloids, but I guess technically if something is flying, and you don't know what it is, it's a UFO...right?

Any way, story here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/ufos/article2108149.ece

This must be one of the drawbacks to windpower. A cooling tower at a nuke plant would have taken that UFO down...

[Marlin]

The UFO migratory routes must have been left out of the environmental impact statement.

[gsmagnum]

PPP can strike anywhere.
No need to be hating coal, wind, or nuke.
I like the battery idea and have no qualms about coal gasification.
The current nuclear and coal plants are our cheapest sources.
The one that I hate to see a bunch of is Simple Cycle Gas Turbines. They are very expensive. The plus side is that they are fast to start, so they are helpful in the summer.
My only problem with nuclear is the lack of storage/recycling of the fuel in this country.

Wind turbines are fine. Farmers don't seem to mind them in the fields. They plow around them just fine. The dead birds and bats add extra nutrients to the soil.

[atomicarcheologist]

Wind turbines are fine. Farmers don't seem to mind them in the fields. They plow around them just fine. The dead birds and bats add extra nutrients to the soil.

Do you have pictures of agricultural farms with wind turbines on them?  I am unaware of this arrangement.  The wind turbines I am familiar with require roads to the turbine for construction and maintenance.  This would take land out of production for the farmer.  Yes, I realize that farmers are businessmen and that the biggest dollar per acre wins.  However, I don't know of farmers with turbines in their fields that they plow around.  So I would appreciate the pictures.   
Thanks.

[Marlin]

Do you have pictures of agricultural farms with wind turbines on them?  I am unaware of this arrangement.  The wind turbines I am familiar with require roads to the turbine for construction and maintenance.  This would take land out of production for the farmer.  Yes, I realize that farmers are businessmen and that the biggest dollar per acre wins.  However, I don't know of farmers with turbines in their fields that they plow around.  So I would appreciate the pictures.   
Thanks.

For crops that do not need cross pollination it might work, but I thought plants liked classical music not droning

[Smart People]

do a search on youtube for homemade wind turbines. they are very cool and it looks like a project i might look into this summer.

[93-383]

Do you have pictures of agricultural farms with wind turbines on them?  I am unaware of this arrangement.  The wind turbines I am familiar with require roads to the turbine for construction and maintenance.  This would take land out of production for the farmer.  Yes, I realize that farmers are businessmen and that the biggest dollar per acre wins.  However, I don't know of farmers with turbines in their fields that they plow around.  So I would appreciate the pictures.   
Thanks.

I don't have a photo. But back home between Linn Grove and Storm Lake IA there is a wind farm about five mi wide and 20 mi long. The towers are in feilds but on the edges so as not to have a road cutting through the feild. Since there is a east-west or north-south road every 1 mi it seems to work.

[jc]

Do you have pictures of agricultural farms with wind turbines on them?  I am unaware of this arrangement.

This is a Google Maps view of the Cerro Gordo wind farm in Iowa. It's located entirely within corn and bean fields, complete with access roads for the turbines. You can zoom out and see the whole thing:

http://maps.google.com/maps?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=43.047597,-93.427005&spn=0.013737,0.033045&z=16

Scroll down to Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, on this page for the details. Note the picture: http://www.alliantenergy.com/docs/groups/public/documents/pub/p014405.hcsp

[retired nuke]

And if there is no farm around, mount it at the union hall in the city...

http://www.ibew.org/articles/05journal/0509/p14_windmill.htm

[SloGlo]

And if there is no farm around, mount it at the union hall in the city...

http://www.ibew.org/articles/05journal/0509/p14_windmill.htm

gist don't put it inna wahtar outside teddy's cape cod summer haus

[Mike McFarlin]

No one has mentioned ICE on the propeller blades.  That is a big problem too.

Or UFOs....