[Rushy]

Then what is the video trying to say? That oil spill accidents sometimes happen and therefore Shell is a bad terrible sinful company which brainwashes the feeble minds of children with insidious Lego toys to turn them pro-industry and pro-oil?

It's a surprisingly good way of killing off an industry you don't like. Just look at how much nuclear power was set back due to irrelevant arguments making it look icky.

Except the world can live pretty well without nuclear. Without oil, the world as we know it will be sent back to the industrialization era. Technological progress will come to a grinding halt as oil is one of our highest energy dense fuels. Energy will become magnitudes more expensive and city suburbs would disappear because people would be forced to move into the city to keep their jobs. All of this is why oil is going nowhere fast, no matter how hard these hippies try to say otherwise.

[fappenhosen]

hippies

Richard Nixon is in the building.

[Pete Svarrior]

Except the world can live pretty well without nuclear.

People lived pretty well during the industrial revolution, too. The fact that they didn't know how much better it could be was just a bit of a psychological luxury.

[Rushy]

People lived pretty well during the industrial revolution, too. The fact that they didn't know how much better it could be was just a bit of a psychological luxury.

Should I assume you have access to some sort of dimensional gateway? You seem to be trying to make the argument that life would be better with nuclear power being more prominent, but since there are no examples of it, I'm wondering where your observation comes from.

[Pete Svarrior]

Should I assume you have access to some sort of dimensional gateway? You seem to be trying to make the argument that life would be better with nuclear power being more prominent, but since there are no examples of it, I'm wondering where your observation comes from.

It's a belief, not an argument. Cheap, stable, reliable and clean energy would make it easier for us to use energy, and using energy leads to good stuff.

Also, France and South Korea are relatively reliant on nuclear power, and they seem to be doing pretty damn well. I wouldn't want to claim that I can factually argue causation (or even correlation), but since I'm only talking about my beliefs, that's fine :^)

[Vindictus]

Nuclear energy is the future. Short of revolutions in the renewable energy field, nuclear energy is the only power source capable of sustaining us as we create more and more shit to use power.

[Rushy]

It's a belief, not an argument. Cheap, stable, reliable and clean energy would make it easier for us to use energy, and using energy leads to good stuff.

Also, France and South Korea are relatively reliant on nuclear power, and they seem to be doing pretty damn well. I wouldn't want to claim that I can factually argue causation (or even correlation), but since I'm only talking about my beliefs, that's fine :^)

Oh, I didn't realize you were a nuclear cultist. Carry on.

Nuclear energy is the future. Short of revolutions in the renewable energy field, nuclear energy is the only power source capable of sustaining us as we create more and more shit to use power.

Actually nuclear and its wastes are still pretty dangerous until someone builds a proper breeder reactor that uses Thorium instead of Uranium. Every Nuclear reactor that uses Uranium is really just a bomb factory that happens to produce electricity. India is trying to build Thorium reactors at the moment, none are operational.

[Vindictus]

It's a belief, not an argument. Cheap, stable, reliable and clean energy would make it easier for us to use energy, and using energy leads to good stuff.

Also, France and South Korea are relatively reliant on nuclear power, and they seem to be doing pretty damn well. I wouldn't want to claim that I can factually argue causation (or even correlation), but since I'm only talking about my beliefs, that's fine :^)

Oh, I didn't realize you were a nuclear cultist. Carry on.

Nuclear energy is the future. Short of revolutions in the renewable energy field, nuclear energy is the only power source capable of sustaining us as we create more and more shit to use power.

Actually nuclear and its wastes are still pretty dangerous until someone builds a proper breeder reactor that uses Thorium instead of Uranium. Every Nuclear reactor that uses Uranium is really just a bomb factory that happens to produce electricity. India is trying to build Thorium reactors at the moment, none are operational.

Thorium, fusion, whatever we use it's going to be nuclear in nature. It has to be. Modern fission reactors aren't that dangerous, the costs are the prohibitive part of building and operating them.

[Rushy]

Thorium, fusion, whatever we use it's going to be nuclear in nature. It has to be. Modern fission reactors aren't that dangerous, the costs are the prohibitive part of building and operating them.

Thorium breeder reactors result in U-233 that can't be used in bombs and has a half-life of 68 years. Compare that to conventional reactors in the US that produces waste U-236 that has a half-life of 15 to 20 million years. The difference isn't something to be saying "eh, they're all the same thing anyway."

[Pete Svarrior]

Thorium breeder reactors result in U-233 that can't be used in bombs and has a half-life of 68 years. Compare that to conventional reactors in the US that produces waste U-236 that has a half-life of 15 to 20 million years. The difference isn't something to be saying "eh, they're all the same thing anyway."

True, but the fact that we're panically afraid of nuclear power hinders research which could get us to Thorium reactors or something better that we don't know of yet.

[beardo]

Oil companies are pure evil.

[Rushy]

True, but the fact that we're panically afraid of nuclear power hinders research which could get us to Thorium reactors or something better that we don't know of yet.

I think you're confusing the layman's fear of nuclear power with nuclear R&D. I don't know if you've noticed, but nearly every engineering and science college/university on Earth has a nuclear department.

[fappenhosen]

I don't know if you've noticed, but nearly every engineering and science college/university on Earth has a nuclear department.

Wut.

[Lord Dave]

True, but the fact that we're panically afraid of nuclear power hinders research which could get us to Thorium reactors or something better that we don't know of yet.

I think you're confusing the layman's fear of nuclear power with nuclear R&D. I don't know if you've noticed, but nearly every engineering and science college/university on Earth has a nuclear department.

And?
Nuclear medicine is a proud science that has helped many lives.

[Rushy]

Wut.

Yawn.

And?
Nuclear medicine is a proud science that has helped many lives.

Please stop coming into threads and spouting nonsense. I don't know if this is your new character troll but stop, just stop it.

[Pete Svarrior]

I think you're confusing the layman's fear of nuclear power with nuclear R&D. I don't know if you've noticed, but nearly every engineering and science college/university on Earth has a nuclear department.

Doesn't matter, it's still being hindered. Businesses who donate towards, fund, or are in any way involved with nuclear research are often listed as "unethical" by groups like Corporate Critic, thus scaring customers away from these businesses, thus discouraging the businesses from investing.

I had a bit argument about that with my union - they enlisted Ethical Consumer to help decide which products they should and shouldn't stock in their shop/food outlets. The big problem with that is that people rarely look into the details - each business is allocated a score which determines how "ethical" or "unethical" it is. Having anything to do with things like nuclear power or GMO, even for medical use makes your business unethical and avoided by some.

Now, sure, I don't know the exact impact of this issue. I've witnessed it in action, so perhaps I'm blowing it out of proportion. Nonetheless, there definitely is an amount of pointless hindrance caused to R&D simply because laymen are scared of what they don't understand.

[Rushy]

Doesn't matter, it's still being hindered. Businesses who donate towards, fund, or are in any way involved with nuclear research are often listed as "unethical" by groups like Corporate Critic, thus scaring customers away from these businesses, thus discouraging the businesses from investing.

The kind of customers those strange systems scare away also tend to be the kind that are uneducated and have no money in the first place.

I had a bit argument about that with my union - they enlisted Ethical Consumer to help decide which products they should and shouldn't stock in their shop/food outlets. The big problem with that is that people rarely look into the details - each business is allocated a score which determines how "ethical" or "unethical" it is. Having anything to do with things like nuclear power or GMO, even for medical use makes your business unethical and avoided by some.

Now, sure, I don't know the exact impact of this issue. I've witnessed it in action, so perhaps I'm blowing it out of proportion. Nonetheless, there definitely is an amount of pointless hindrance caused to R&D simply because people are scared of what they don't understand.

This is a lot of anecdotal stuff and you're right to admit that the exact impact of it is unknown. I highly doubt nuclear engineering in general has been greatly impacted by hippies, because like I said, I can't find an engineering or science university that doesn't have an active and well funded nuclear program.



(This is 2011 data)

20% seems like a pretty good chunk of the grid to me. To say if "well, it could be 100%!" doesn't seem like a proper way to argue that research or usage is being actively driven down. I'd even go as far as to say the only reason the majority isn't nuclear is because the coal industry along with its labor unions and lobbyists are balls-deep in congress.

[Lord Dave]

And?
Nuclear medicine is a proud science that has helped many lives.

Please stop coming into threads and spouting nonsense. I don't know if this is your new character troll but stop, just stop it.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_medicine
How the fuck is that nonsense?

[Rushy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_medicine
How the fuck is that nonsense?

Dave do you see a goddamn thing about medicine in this thread? read the title

[Lord Dave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_medicine
How the fuck is that nonsense?

Dave do you see a goddamn thing about medicine in this thread? read the title

Off Topic is not nonsense. 
Nuclear power and Nuclear Medicine are both under the category of "nuclear department" in each college/university.  It's one of the many benefits that have emerged from studying nuclear energy.