🚀 go-pugleaf

Neal Atkins (natkins@austin.rr.com) wrote:
: On 10 Jun 2001 23:03:27 GMT, Merlin Dorfman <dorfman@rahul.net> wrote:

: >: Don't you remember 3 Mile Island and all the MILLIONS that were killed
: >: there?
: >
: >     Yes, and I remember Browns Ferry and how close it came to
: >killing thousands if not millions; and I remember Chernobyl.

: Close?  Oboy, now "close" is a factor.  And nobody but the ruskies use
: an unprotected reactor like Chernobyl.
     
     Every near-accident is a warning.  Ignore it at your peril.
     The point of Chernobyl is not that the same design exists
anyplace else (although it did).  I'm sure Browns Ferry, TMI, and
Ranch Seco are all different designs, but they all had problems.

: >: I'm sure the POLITICALLY CORRECT Kalifornicators would rather do
: >: without than use NUKLEAR power!
: >
: >     It may or may not have been a wise choice, but it is the
: >choice that was made, and it is NOT responsible for the present
: >problems.  The utilities would have been no more willing to
: >invest in nuclear generating plants than in conventional ones--
: >maybe less, since they cost so much more and take longer to
: >return any money on the investment.

: Yeah, sure.  And having a few extra megawatts wouldn't solve the
: problem either.  Enjoy the summer.  Pay for your electricity or sweat
: in the dark.

     One mo' time...they were not going to build the capacity to
generate more megawatts, because they didn't believe the
investment climate was right.  Either nuclear or conventional
megawatts.

: >: I heard that 70% of the power used in Kalifornia is used by
: >: BUSINESS'S!  Why all they have to do is SHUT DOWN about 1/2 of the
: >: BUSINESS'S and they'll have all  the power they need.
: >     
: >     We're working on it.  :-)  I read that while the conservation
: >goal was only 7%, 11% has actually been achieved.  I susptect that
: >this is not due to public-spirited turning off of lights etc., but
: >to a reaction to higher prices, and to reduced demand due to the
: >slowing economy.

: Or more likely it's because some energy intensive industrys are
: shutting down rather than risk finanical ruin due to the unpredictable
: blackouts.  Like the Aluminum wheel maker that lost hundreds of
: thousands of dollars worth of molds when the power went off and they
: couldn't get the molten aluminum out of the machine.  He's moving to
: Texas or Mexico.  Or the cardboard maker that lost millions of dollars
: worth of production when the power went off and glue used in the
: manufacturing process hardened in the machines.  He was out of
: business for 2 weeks while trying to fix the machines and now that
: they are fixed, he won't run them unless and until he has a GUARANTY
: that the juice won't go off.  Of course in the meantime, his entire
: staff is unpaid and I guess on "welfare".

     First, there will now be warnings before shutdowns; second,
if energy is more expensive and/or unreliable in California than
in other places, energy intensive industry can and will move
elsewhere.  Simple economics.  A lot of things like that have
already happened, leading to the concentration of science,
engineering, etc.

: Or the Alcoa aluminum smelter that shut down production since they
: could make more money selling their electricity to the state than
: making aluminum.  More unemployment.

     Except that use of the electricity by high-tech industry
and its employees probably has more economic benefits to the
state than smelting does.

: Yeah, you guys are doing a bang-up job.  Pretty soon there is going to
: be a dust bowl in reverse.  Millions of broke, desparate people with
: their meager goods lashed to their Camaros fleeing the bankrupt state.

     We'll be happy to ship out the low-wage jobs.  The workers
will be able to afford housing, and the employers will be able
to afford the energy.  Sounds like a good deal all around.

: Just don't come to Texas.  We don't need anymore socialists than we
: already have.

     I think all those socialists who own and work at the aluminum
smelters will be very happy in Texas.  And Texas is obviously happy
to have the pollution.