I do agree that the long-term effects can be quite damaging to the economy. Tax and trade will will cost every American hundreds of dollars a year.

Though I have very little personal knowledge with which to evaluate the issue, I keep running across articles in which the writers proclaim that fast neutron reactor technology may be our only viable option for considerably extending the useful life of our current nuclear resources. That would, in turn, enable us to prolong the use and depletion of the remaining crude, coal and natural gas.

To me, at least, it sounds as if it may have at least as much promise as would hundreds of thousands of overgrown whirlygigs decorating the ridge lines of the purple mountains majesty and populating the fruited plains.

All recommend that our federal government invest in advancing and refining the technology.

None, of course, specify in what way they personally would expect to profit financially from the government largesse.

That is such a stupid comment. It’s people like you who will believe anything the media says.

I’m not even going to start tearing into it, it’s just that narrow minded it’s not funny.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/02/17/bill.gates.nuclear/

I’m skeptical because the concept sounds like the infamous “perpetual motion machine.” But it’s great that we’re finally seeing some real exploration and innovation in energy sources other than the same ol’ fossil fuels.

Nukes may be “greener” than carbon based fossil fuels but uranium is no more renewable than crude oil.
Though not biological, all of the uranium that is present on the planet is a “fossil fuel” that was created in a dying star that went supernova.

So, how much uranium do we have left on the planet? I have seen estimates that are all over the map: From less than 50 years at the current usage rates to as much as 200 years even with a large increase in usage rates. At least one writer speculated that we would run out of fissionable uranium before we ran out of crude oil. In any case, uranium, the same as crude oil, coal, and natural gas, etc., is a finite resource. And for all practical purposes, so is the biofuel called wood.

Please. Don’t get the wrong idea. I am all for expanded nuclear generating capacity and thought it was a travesty that the Three Mile Island debacle and the even worse Chernobyl meltdown sent decision makers into a politically motivated panic causing a halt to the construction of more nuclear generating plants more than thirty years ago. We are now at least thirty years behind where we should be with nuclear generating capacity.

There are a number of questions that must be asked and answered before we start celebrating and say,
“Problem solved and we had the solution at hand all the while. Nukes are it!”

One that I have is, “Are sidedoor or backdoor tax funded subsidies being provided to the nuclear generating industry?” There are enough financial black holes in Washington (for legitimate national security reasons) that there could be substantial amounts of subsidies that are hidden away in any of the black holes. If not, fine. If so, then whatever cost subsidies have been in place have to be factored into the equation if the long term viability of nuclear as a primary energy source is to be honestly and accurately evaluated.

Asked another way: Has nuclear electricity generation been subsidized by carbon-based fossil fuels?

I am not necessarily a skeptic but I am always damned well suspicious any time or anywhere or about anything when our federal government has involved itself in a process or system. Those who inhabit Goofyville-on-the-Potomac just can’t seem to restrain themselves from going overboard and unroyally screwing up even the best of ideas.

The really bizarre–perhaps surreal would be the better word–thing about “cap and trade” is that tax receipts for all of our governments from almost all other methods of taxation would immediately go into freefall as soon as cap and trade as currently envisioned was implemented.

When viewed from here, about a thousand miles or so from Washington, our federal government appears to me to be in the process of trying to self-destruct as it is.
And, yes, it is entirely possible for governments to self-destruct. If you look back through history that has almost always been the cause-of-death when great nations and great empires met their demise. Great nations don’t just die. They are assassinated by the unthinking actions and the uncontrolled excesses of their own governments.

Cap and trade could be and likely would be far more than just “The straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“The advantage to the Recovery Act credit is that there is no maximum dollar amount that the credit will pay for. In other words, whether you have a small solar panel array or a huge home with a huge array, that 30% will still apply.”