Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxx.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!ihuxx!ignatz From: ignatz@ihuxx.UUCP (Dave Ihnat, Chicago, IL) Newsgroups: net.followup,net.politics Subject: Re: Re: Lockport Blast: safety of oil vs nuclear power Message-ID: <798@ihuxx.UUCP> Date: Fri, 3-Aug-84 00:12:06 EDT Article-I.D.: ihuxx.798 Posted: Fri Aug 3 00:12:06 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 29-Jul-84 00:05:38 EDT References: <338@tellab1.UUCP> <1588@druxv.UUCP> <651@teltone.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 48 ... But I'll bet nuclear is put against large coal and oil plants instead of the real winners, decentralized solar, biogas, and natural gas. ... Hmmm. Let me know how to power a blast furnace from decentralized solar. Frankly, the problem is that heavy industry needs *large* quantities of high-grade energy. None of the alternate sources can provide that. And if we're going to pull the rest of the planet above subsistence level living, then we need heavy industry. (I *firmly* refuse to lower my lifestyle, so the only alternative is to raise everyone else's.) Unfortunately, the same problem applies to central urban areas--you have to find some place to put those bleedin' collectors, and covering 2/3 of Manhattan or the Chicago Loop isn't going to work. The extremely large biomass converters also have their pollution problems; and that gas has to be converted to electricity at some point, to be generally usable. And natural gas, while clean and relatively abundant, falls in the same category as petroleum: it's a finite resource. Everyone has their own axe to grind, and I'll agree that nuclear power, as implemented by the powers that be, is far from a desirable legacy to our kids. (At least WE put containments around the beasts--the Soviets don't believe in them!!) But I think it's high time that all of us who love our home (i.e., this amazing planet we have the luck to live on) agree that the important thing is to stop fouling our own nest. Would you put your trash incinerator in the living room? Then why have a blast furnace just a few miles away from residential homes? To do this sanely, we have to get out of our closed ecosystem. How? (You knew it had to come to this.) Leave the planet. Get the stinky, messy, sloppy stuff out where you can REALLY use solar, on a large scale. Get it where nuclear power plants are an intelligent and elegant solution. Get out where there are plentiful raw materials. GO ORBITAL. I won't go on a tirade justifying this stance here; it belongs in net.space. (Of course, there, it's the converted preaching to the converted...:-)) But I hope that enough people take enough time out from laughing at this "Sci-Fi" idea to examine the economics, engineering, and logistics long enough to think... Dave "I'd take a job as janitor on the Shuttle" Ihnat ihuxx!ignatz