Hello all,
Many of you are big shots, or at least, have a healthy bit of nuclear power experience under your belt. Some of you may then actually have a very good idea where the industry is headed.
This leads me to my question. With as much effort as possible in giving an objective assessment, do you guys see nuclear power making it big in the states as we already see in France? I've had the opportunity in speaking with many experts in this sort of thing, ranging from power systems engineers to the former Secretary of the Air-force under the Clinton administration (I'm serious, we had PIZZA, it was part of this frat thing). Anyway, I've gotten many mixed predictions. Many say that the safety issues with Nuclear Power are completely gone and that the threat of a meltdown is almost 0%.
Also, new methods in storing the nuclear waste should now push nuclear power foward in the states, despite flawed public perception. The new methods I refer to are the storing of nuclear waste in areas where radiation levels are already high. So instead of storing in salt mines and caves, where a leak could make its way to the water, etc, we store them in areas where a leak would pretty much be unnoticable, because there's radiation occuring naturally all around anyway.
Critics argue that nuclear power will never over-come the negative publicity it gets and thus, never fully accepted as a energy source. People will never accept the risks involved, no matter how safe-gaurded against...
So what do you guys think? I am very curious as to what yall think. I personally would like to see progressive movements being made into a more stable energy source, as opposed to just digging our way out of a projected upcoming energy crisis.
I'm a UT Austin student studying Electrical Engineering. I want to move my career into power systems, particularly, alternate and renewable energy. So, any information from experts in the field would greatly be of help.