Some of the low level nuclear wastes have a "half-life" of 1,000 years. Then, it takes 10 half-lives for the material to be safe to handle.

There is a low-level depository in NM where drums of waste are buried about 10 feet down. Then, they found that rats and gofers were digging in the soft dirt and realized they had better keep the place monitored to make sure none of the radio-active stuff was being brought to the surface.

Then, a while back, some fool proposed building a high-level depository right on top of the SAN ANDREAS FAULT LINE. :shock: :shock: :shock:

We can not even insure that any of it is going to be safe for the first 100 years, much less 10,000 years.

Then, you look at electric cars... I suppose each one could have a solar panel on top to charge the batteries during the day, but say you go to the bar in the evening, then need to charge the battery to get home... Well... Maybe that's not all that good an example... If you have to wait till noon the next day to drive home, you might just be sober enough to make the trip... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
But, to plug the car in and charge the batteries would mean that certain times of the day would be "peak demand hours" and would draw more energy from the power line. Where would that come from??? Perhaps, coal fired power plants. Burn more coal... Produce more greenhouse gases. They call them "CLEAN BURNING PLANTS", but if you're burning coal, you're burning carbon and producing CO2. In fact, the only thing we can burn and not produce carbon-dioxide is hydrogen. That's it. That's all. Virtually everything else you can find in quantity enough to supply our energy needs contains carbon. So, you can do all the switching around and substituting you want, but you're only robbing from Peter to pay Paul.

WIPP site...I know it well. One of their original problems was that they thought the evaporite formations would hold everything in..there is rarely a truly impermeable formation, maybe a good, stiff clay-->shale-->slate.

There is an LES UEF just outside my home town, too and they are getting ready to build another one. It brought a lot of white-collars in to go head to head with the blue collars from the oilfield there. I thought about going to work for htem...even security guards get like $25/hr. When I was a little younger, I owuld have walked right in to it...but, these days, I tend to play it a little safer (even if the danger is purely just "perceived")

I'm right there with you regarding hydrogen, WW. That is where I would like to see the R&D dollars go...

Bloomoose and Wind,

Regarding Hydrogen:

Even as clean as it is you do realize it produces large amount of Water Vapor that being the most contributing factor to "global warming" . Carbons are still only trace elments when it comes to air pollution. Water vapor is still the bigger factor and not by a small amount either.

There is no way Hydrogen is the sollution, sure it cuts down on carbons<aka>trace and replaces it with water vapor. Sorry I'm not onboard.

Well, that's reasonable. That is all part of the "not effiecient and/cost effective to produce" issue, I am sure. But I think that a "yet" should be added...vapor can easily change forms...very easily. But, I am a bonafide tree-hugger and I have done a lot of research (because it's part of my job) on environmental issues - I am deeply embedded in environmental concerns. I'm not totally on board with the global warming issue. I am not expert, by any means...it's just my own opinion.

As far as I can tell, people as a whole are not willing to change anyway- either because it's inconvenient or they cannot afford to. Through the (geologic) ages, it's been much warmer on this earth than it is now and we are still here. I used to worry and fret (literally) about everything from indigenous clover to spotted owls. I am no longer worried about our earth...she's a mother, she'll survive. She's not my permanent home, anyway! Cast your fear on the Man that is there to deal with them! And, while you're here...do all that you can.

TW/WW - maybe we can meet on middle ground, hmmm?? Here is an alternative!! As healthy-minded Americans..."CHICKEN":

"Although China suffers from many environmental problems, stagnating chicken poop isn’t one of them. One of the largest chicken farms north of Beijing is using its rather impressive quantity of chicken excrement to generate energy.

According to Clean Technica, the Deqingyuan Chicken Farm Waste Utilization Plant will be replacing its coal plant with bio-gas made from the chicken poop which will hopefully cut down on 95,000 tons per year in CO2 emissions and noxious smells as well.

The plant will feature an anaerobic digester to treat waste material, which will produce biogas that will then power 2 GE Jenbacher gas engines. Heat generated from the process will be used in the waste fermentation process and to warm the farm in the winter.

The 3 million chickens create 220 tons of manure and 170 tons of waste water a day.” Utilizing this immense source of biogas will allow the plant to provide 14,600 MWh of electricity each year not just to the farm but to others in the local area.

Chicken farms are notorious for stinking up the local surrounding. The larger the chicken farm the stronger the smell. At least the chicken poop can be used for something *ah hum* productive by being a source of power for the local community."

Deqingyuan Chicken Farm Waste Utilization Plant (DCFWUP) sounds kind of stuffy, though...I think they should change it to..

PUUP...Poultry Utiliization or Use Program

Not to stir the pot anymore! :shock:

But I received this email today from one of my many American friends today & I just HAD to share it....

FIRST BOOK OF DEMOCRAT

Obama Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want.
He Leadeth Me Beside Still Factories,
He Restoreth My Faith In The Republican Party,
He Guideth Me In The Paths Of Unemployment.
Yea, Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Bread Line, I Shall Not Go Hungry.
Obama Has Anointed My Income With Taxes,
My Expenses Runneth Over My Income,
Surely, Poverty And Hard Living Will Follow Me All The Days Of My Life.
The Democrats And I Will Live Forever In a Rented Room.
But I Am Glad I Am an American,
I Am Glad That I Am Free.
But I Wish I Was A Dog
And Obama A Tree.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Now that was a good one!