^^A lot of folks in Eastern WA have had that sort of problem; it’s under the rug, thanks to “National Security”. Can’t be discussed, even though the real national security is quite a different thing.
The Navy’s reactor in Idaho had a pretty nasty and fatal oops back when, but they still brag about the safety record in the Fleet. That one doesn’t count for the industrial safety record, I guess.
I see nukepills.com is out of KI pills, having sent 50,000 to Japan, which needs them more right now.
Where’s your Geiger counter, and are your batteries fresh?
I’ve been telling people for forty years that coal fired power plants are inherently safe but nuclear ones aren’t! Maybe they’ll believe me now!!!
Sure the nuclear ones are safe — as long as nothing ever goes wrong with them. And Japan sure proved that nothing ever goes wrong with them, didn’t they!!
Dear Fans,
This strip was written five weeks ago. I’ve seen this happen before many times when Jeff was alive. He would do an editorial cartoon and it would happen a few days later. Okay, so we borrow Madame Zudu’s crystal ball once in a while. So SHOE me! We send love and light to Japan. We are one human family.
Love from Treetops,
Roz
I realize that this strip was done before the earthquake in Japan, but all things considered, it should have been pulled. The raditaion suit is bad taste considering the conditions in Japan at this moment.
Very few nuke plants melt down. This week may bring the statistical average higher than decades long coal mine fires which are also rare, like deep-sea oil well explosions. The amount of power required to operate this global civilization is inherently risky. Take your chances, but wear your rubbers, if no one got screwed you wouldn’t be here.
Dear Fans,
This strip was written five weeks ago. I’ve seen this happen before many times when Jeff was alive. He would do an editorial cartoon and it would happen a few days later. Okay, so we borrow Madame Zudu’s crystal ball once in a while. So SHOE me! We send love and light to Japan. We are one human family.
Love from Treetops,
Roz
The biggest thing I don’t like about nuclear power plants is the radioactive waste products that come out of them.
The one that is giving the most problems over there in Japan is the spent fuel rod storage pit in each of the power plants. Why are they there? Well, because nobody has ever agreed on what we are going to do with this spent fuel. So when the fuel becomes used up enough so it isn’t capable of running the nuclear steam generator anymore, they take the old fuel out of the reactor and put new fuel rods in the reactor. NOW what do they do with the old fuel rods? Well, because nobody could agree what to do with them at the time the plant was designed, they built a spent fuel pool in the reactor building to store these spent fuel rods, UNTIL “WE” CAN AGREE ON WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. And “WE” can’t agree because it is ALWAYS a case of “Don’t put them in MY back yard, put them in HIS back yard!” So these spent fuel pools that were designed to be sufficient for (say) twenty years of storage (Because SURELY “WE” would figure out what to do with them by THEN!) are mostly filled up now. And of course, we STILL keep generating MORE spent fuel!! I seriously doubt that “WE” will EVER get real and decide what to do with them. Meanwhile, these things are going to last like that for THOUSANDS of years – AND of course, they have to be kept submerged in water for THOUSANDS of years or they overheat and melt and possibly explode, scattering radiation all over creation! Have you ever seen or even heard of a modern technological civilization that has LASTED several thousand years to take care of these spent fuel storage pools? Is it likely that such a civilization, IF you could even find one, is going to go on CONTINUOUSLY for thousands of years? Because, remember, if you DON’T keep these spent fuel storage pools operating perfectly, CONTINUOUSLY, the water evaporates out of them and the fuel rods melt down and explode! (Scattering radiation all over creation!)
The next problem is that dust settling in these spent fuel pools, and contaminates in the reactor feed water, become radioactive themselves. So you run the water through filters and you filter out this radioactive sludge. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THAT? It’s the same problem as the spent fuel itself. Except even worse because THIS bleeep (okay, what’s a four letter word ending in ‘it’ that I CAN use here!) is NOT contained in nice fuel rods, it’s just a sludge. And NOBODY wants THAT in his back yard either. So you put in big steel storage tanks with water for cooling, AND keep stirring this water so the sludge won’t settle in the bottom of the tank and ‘go critical’ and explode (or flash, or melt or become a REAL problem). And of course, these big steel tanks rust, don’t they, so eventually they leak! And just like the fuel rods themselves, we keep getting MORE of this sludge junk all the time. The last I knew, we had about 93,000,000 gallons of it, but THAT was about thirty years ago! And if “WE” can never decide what to do with it than just storing it somewhere, this bleeep (Ditto) ALSO has to be kept stored in tanks, AND kept stirred so it won’t settle, AND kept cool with water, AND the water has to be replenished as the water evaporates, FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS! CONTINUOUSLY! Without EVER ignoring it, or the stuff will explode. (Scattering radiation all over creation.)
I hope you LIKE this situation, because you are digging yourself ever more in this hole with every nuclear power plant you build!
Of course if you are one of these flower child hippies who think ( Is that the word? Do they ever THINK! ) that you can power a technological civilization with solar, or wind, or hot air, or the tooth fairy, or “conservation” (Yeah, RIGHT!), or whatever “hippie power” you want to dream about, there is no point in my trying to pound some sense into your thick skull because there’s nothing but rocks up there anyway.
It’s EITHER fossil fuels (which you won’t like because it releases CO2 plant food), hydroelectric dams (which you won’t like because it inconveniences a few fish), OR nuclear (which you AND I won’t like because it’s basically dangerous to civilizations. I’ll AGREE with you THERE!).
THERE ISN’T any other practical source!!
And, unfortunately, fusion nuclear is a pipe dream!
Llewellenbruce over 13 years ago
Today’s strip is very similar to the “Bound & Gagged” strip. Must just be a coincidence.
EarlWash over 13 years ago
You will be getting a special delivery letter form the Department of Socially Unacceptable Communicable Diseases. “Urgent. Open Immediately”.
pbarnrob over 13 years ago
^^A lot of folks in Eastern WA have had that sort of problem; it’s under the rug, thanks to “National Security”. Can’t be discussed, even though the real national security is quite a different thing.
The Navy’s reactor in Idaho had a pretty nasty and fatal oops back when, but they still brag about the safety record in the Fleet. That one doesn’t count for the industrial safety record, I guess.
I see nukepills.com is out of KI pills, having sent 50,000 to Japan, which needs them more right now.
Where’s your Geiger counter, and are your batteries fresh?
BigChiefDesoto over 13 years ago
I’ve been telling people for forty years that coal fired power plants are inherently safe but nuclear ones aren’t! Maybe they’ll believe me now!!!
Sure the nuclear ones are safe — as long as nothing ever goes wrong with them. And Japan sure proved that nothing ever goes wrong with them, didn’t they!!
ROZILLA over 13 years ago
Dear Fans, This strip was written five weeks ago. I’ve seen this happen before many times when Jeff was alive. He would do an editorial cartoon and it would happen a few days later. Okay, so we borrow Madame Zudu’s crystal ball once in a while. So SHOE me! We send love and light to Japan. We are one human family. Love from Treetops, Roz
pamlicorat over 13 years ago
I realize that this strip was done before the earthquake in Japan, but all things considered, it should have been pulled. The raditaion suit is bad taste considering the conditions in Japan at this moment.
tsiegman Premium Member over 13 years ago
Actually kind of apropos. The government there is telling everyone that the radioactivity is “safe”.
Yeah, right.
ChukLitl Premium Member over 13 years ago
Very few nuke plants melt down. This week may bring the statistical average higher than decades long coal mine fires which are also rare, like deep-sea oil well explosions. The amount of power required to operate this global civilization is inherently risky. Take your chances, but wear your rubbers, if no one got screwed you wouldn’t be here.
gofinsc over 13 years ago
Yikes, DrMoses, nothing about St.Patrick’s Day here either, just as in “Ziggy”!
ROZILLA over 13 years ago
Dear Fans, This strip was written five weeks ago. I’ve seen this happen before many times when Jeff was alive. He would do an editorial cartoon and it would happen a few days later. Okay, so we borrow Madame Zudu’s crystal ball once in a while. So SHOE me! We send love and light to Japan. We are one human family. Love from Treetops, Roz
BigChiefDesoto over 13 years ago
AHEM!!
As I was saying!! (I worked in this business)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/world/asia/17nuclear.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp
BigChiefDesoto over 13 years ago
The biggest thing I don’t like about nuclear power plants is the radioactive waste products that come out of them.
The one that is giving the most problems over there in Japan is the spent fuel rod storage pit in each of the power plants. Why are they there? Well, because nobody has ever agreed on what we are going to do with this spent fuel. So when the fuel becomes used up enough so it isn’t capable of running the nuclear steam generator anymore, they take the old fuel out of the reactor and put new fuel rods in the reactor. NOW what do they do with the old fuel rods? Well, because nobody could agree what to do with them at the time the plant was designed, they built a spent fuel pool in the reactor building to store these spent fuel rods, UNTIL “WE” CAN AGREE ON WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. And “WE” can’t agree because it is ALWAYS a case of “Don’t put them in MY back yard, put them in HIS back yard!” So these spent fuel pools that were designed to be sufficient for (say) twenty years of storage (Because SURELY “WE” would figure out what to do with them by THEN!) are mostly filled up now. And of course, we STILL keep generating MORE spent fuel!! I seriously doubt that “WE” will EVER get real and decide what to do with them. Meanwhile, these things are going to last like that for THOUSANDS of years – AND of course, they have to be kept submerged in water for THOUSANDS of years or they overheat and melt and possibly explode, scattering radiation all over creation! Have you ever seen or even heard of a modern technological civilization that has LASTED several thousand years to take care of these spent fuel storage pools? Is it likely that such a civilization, IF you could even find one, is going to go on CONTINUOUSLY for thousands of years? Because, remember, if you DON’T keep these spent fuel storage pools operating perfectly, CONTINUOUSLY, the water evaporates out of them and the fuel rods melt down and explode! (Scattering radiation all over creation!)
The next problem is that dust settling in these spent fuel pools, and contaminates in the reactor feed water, become radioactive themselves. So you run the water through filters and you filter out this radioactive sludge. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THAT? It’s the same problem as the spent fuel itself. Except even worse because THIS bleeep (okay, what’s a four letter word ending in ‘it’ that I CAN use here!) is NOT contained in nice fuel rods, it’s just a sludge. And NOBODY wants THAT in his back yard either. So you put in big steel storage tanks with water for cooling, AND keep stirring this water so the sludge won’t settle in the bottom of the tank and ‘go critical’ and explode (or flash, or melt or become a REAL problem). And of course, these big steel tanks rust, don’t they, so eventually they leak! And just like the fuel rods themselves, we keep getting MORE of this sludge junk all the time. The last I knew, we had about 93,000,000 gallons of it, but THAT was about thirty years ago! And if “WE” can never decide what to do with it than just storing it somewhere, this bleeep (Ditto) ALSO has to be kept stored in tanks, AND kept stirred so it won’t settle, AND kept cool with water, AND the water has to be replenished as the water evaporates, FOR TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS! CONTINUOUSLY! Without EVER ignoring it, or the stuff will explode. (Scattering radiation all over creation.)
I hope you LIKE this situation, because you are digging yourself ever more in this hole with every nuclear power plant you build!
You don’t have any of these problems with coal!
BigChiefDesoto over 13 years ago
Of course if you are one of these flower child hippies who think ( Is that the word? Do they ever THINK! ) that you can power a technological civilization with solar, or wind, or hot air, or the tooth fairy, or “conservation” (Yeah, RIGHT!), or whatever “hippie power” you want to dream about, there is no point in my trying to pound some sense into your thick skull because there’s nothing but rocks up there anyway.
It’s EITHER fossil fuels (which you won’t like because it releases CO2 plant food), hydroelectric dams (which you won’t like because it inconveniences a few fish), OR nuclear (which you AND I won’t like because it’s basically dangerous to civilizations. I’ll AGREE with you THERE!).
THERE ISN’T any other practical source!!
And, unfortunately, fusion nuclear is a pipe dream!
COWBOY7 over 13 years ago
Another one that’s not too convincing!