03-15-2011, 12:58 AM
(03-15-2011, 12:43 AM)NigsWhittington Wrote:(03-11-2011, 10:33 PM)Cracker Wrote: All nuclear plants are an earthquake away from failure.
Most plants have a life expectancy of 30 years (40 at the outside) before they become too degraded to be safe. America has around a hundred nuclear power plants, most of them built in the late 60's or early 70's. You do the math.
LOL. All power plants have low life expectancy, even hydrocarbon plants. Do you know a coal power station is only rated to last 50 years?
HOWEVER
You can increase life expectancy infinitely by replacing parts. It's generally accepted to be cheaper than building a new plant.
Fission research has come on in leaps and bounds. All those valves you see now are being phased out. The reason we're dismantling nuke stations is because we can now build them to be more efficient.
Fuck yeah, technology.
The concrete degrades and errodes/weathers over time. You can't fix that by replacing a part here and a part there. Containment has always been the problem.