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Old 03-23-2009, 08:36 PM   #4 (permalink)
Bicycle Bob
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Nuclear is an industry that can't live without subsidies, can't buy insurance, and will cost our descendants more or less forever. Starting today, you need almost a decade to build a nuke, and another decade of running it to pay back the oil used in construction. Then, it might start to show some temporary benefit, if your luck is good. For a much smaller initial investment, you can have all the renewable power you want in two decades.

To keep power in the hands of big companies, without environmental damage, there is one great new opportunity. Undersea volcanoes, AKA black smokers or hydrothermal vents typically put out six times as much energy as the biggest nuke in an area that could feed just one pipe to bring it to the surface as superheated water for driving turbines, the same as a nuke. Many vents are within range for an undersea power cable at a reasonable price, and there are not the usual problems over intermittent supply from natural sources.
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