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       This is blog post number one thousand. It has been very interesting but also very disturbing to learn this much about nuclear issues. One of the things that has become obvious to me over the course of the last two years is that there are many issues surrounding nuclear power that are not being discussed much if at all. Considering all the problems that surround the use of nuclear energy to boil water to generate electricity, it is pretty obvious to me that nuclear power is a bad idea. Every other power source has its pros and cons. Nuclear power shares some of these. But there are so many additional problems unique to nuclear power that I think it would be best for the future of the human race to give up on nuclear power entirely.

        Over the past few weeks, I have blogged several lists of problems associated with nuclear power. Today, to mark the milestone of one thousand blog posts, I thought that I would offer a combined list of some of the reasons I am against nuclear power. All of these issues are covered in more detail in previous blog posts.

General:

1.     Nuclear power is not carbon free. It requires fossil fuels to mine, refine and transport uranium fuel. The cooling towers require huge amounts of concrete which exhales carbon dioxide as it sets.

2.     About eight square miles are required for a nuclear power station, its exclusion zone, its enrichment plant, ore processing and supporting infrastructure. The location has to be near a huge source of cooling water and away from areas with large population and/or risk of natural disasters. Such locations are getting harder to find.

3.     It is already difficult and, sometimes impossible, to find replacement parts for worn components in old reactors.

4.     Nuclear power reactors are licensed for forty to sixty years. They have to be decommissioned after that because neutron bombardment makes the metal in the plant brittle.

5.     A variety of exotic metals are used in the construction of a nuclear reactor and its containment vessel. There are competing uses and dwindling supplies of some of these metals.

6.     Nuclear power reactors are opened up for refueling. The lifespan of a set of fuel rods is between twelve and eighteen months. Each time a reactor is opened for refueling, there is a spike in steam and gas emissions that can be a health threat down wind.

Institutional:

7.      Nuclear reactors in the U.S. can take up to ten years to plan, license and construct. Other countries have similar timelines.

8.      The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the regulatory commissions of other nations have been less than rigorous in ensuring adherence to regulations on the part of the global nuclear industry.

9.      The nuclear industry has often put profits above proper construction, safety, training and maintenance at nuclear power plants in the U.S. and other countries.

10.    The public is especially skeptical of nuclear power because of the Fukushima disaster in Japan in March of 2011. Accident rates for current world population of about four hundred reactors is about one very serious accident every ten years. As more and more are built, serious accidents will be more frequent. There will be widespread rejection of nuclear power by the public after more serious accidents.

11.    Nuclear nations are pushing the sale of nuclear reactors to third world countries where regulation is more lax than in developed countries and corruption is more severe and widespread increasing the probability of serious accidents.

12.    Uncertainty in the nuclear industry and aging of the nuclear workforce may signal a shortage of trained technicians to operating nuclear power plants in the not too distant future.

13.    Some national governments censor news about nuclear power projects and accidents. When the truth inevitably comes out, the public trust in those governments is eroded.

14.    Some governments have lied to their people about the dangers of radioactive materials released into the environment which erodes trust in those government.

15.   There is so much money involved in nuclear power projects that they can be caught up in national politics and trigger bitter and costly debates between supporters and opponents.

Cost:

16.   The cost of nuclear power keeps rising and the cost of renewables keeps falling making nuclear power less and less competitive.

17.   It is very common for nuclear power projects to run way behind schedule and way over budget.

18.   It is becoming difficult to find investors to support the construction of nuclear power plants.

19.   The cost of nuclear power projects is so high that there is great temptation for fraud and corruption in promoting them.

20.   When a lot of money has been spent on a nuclear power project, it is difficult to shut one down that is behind schedule and over budget.

21.   The funds for decommissioning nuclear power plants are not adequate in the U.S. and other countries.

22.   Insurance programs for covering the damages of nuclear accidents are inadequate.

23.   In the U.S., the NRC requires that nuclear power plant operators must show that they are making a profit on a nuclear power plant or they lose their license and the plant has to be shut down. This is already beginning to happen to some U.S. nuclear power plants.

Water:

24.   Many nuclear power plants are located near ocean coasts where there is danger from hurricanes and tsunamis.

25.   At least twenty nuclear reactors in the U.S. are down-stream from dams. If dams break, the reactors could be flooded.

26.   Recently several nuclear power plants have already had to be shut down temporarily because the bodies of water that they drew cooling water from became too warm for cooling purposes.

27.   Reactors that draw their water from lakes, rivers and reservoirs with falling water levels may find that there will not be sufficient water to cool the reactors and they will have to be shut down and decommissioned.

28.   The population of jellyfish is expanding rapidly in the world's oceans due to climate change. Jellyfish can clog cooling water intakes and shut down nuclear power plants. This has already forced the temporary shutdown of some nuclear power reactors.

29.   Thermal pollution from the hot water leaving a nuclear power plant cooling system has a serious ecological impact on aquatic life downstream from the nuclear power plant.

Waste:

30.   Spent nuclear fuel is piling up around the world at reactors and there are no permanent geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel although a few are under construction and more are being planned.

31.   If permanent geological repositories are not available in the near future, temporary storage in dry casks at reactor sites will be expensive.

32.   Improperly disposed of nuclear waste around the world is leaking into the soil and water and poses a threat to health and the environment.

33.   Criminals and even national governments are contracting with nuclear power plant operators to illegally and unsafely dispose of nuclear wastes.

34.   Geological repositories have been built in underground salt deposits on the assumption that ground water will not penetrate the formations and carry radioactive materials out of the repository. Experience with actual repositories and research on the behavior of ground water in salt formations has disproven this assumption.

35.   Some of the radioactive isotopes in nuclear waste can be dangerous for thousands of years. It will be difficult to warn future generations of the dangers of nuclear waste dumps.

36.   When a permanent geological repository is constructed, the waste currently at nuclear power plants in the spent fuel pool or in dry casks will have to be transported to the repository. The process will be expensive and dangerous. Some waste may have to travel over a thousand miles.

Military:

37.   Nuclear power plants produce plutonium which can be used to make nuclear weapons.

38.   Nuclear power plants are great targets for terrorists.

39.   Radioactive materials such as spent nuclear fuel can be used to construct "dirty bombs" by packing such materials around a core of conventional explosives.

40.   In time of war, nuclear power stations make great targets. Destroying them would both deprive an enemy of power and spread radioactive materials over a wide area, threatening the lives of millions of people. They would also be great targets to hold hostage and they might accidentally be hit during bombardment.