Texas A&M Physicist Sees Energy Solutions in Green Nuclear Power Technology

COLLEGE STATION -- In the mind of Texas A&M University physicist Peter McIntyre, two of America's most pressing energy challenges -- what to do with radiotoxic spent nuclear fuel and dwindling energy resources -- can be solved in one scientific swipe. He is developing the technology that is capable of destroying the dangerous waste and, at the same time, potentially providing safe nuclear power for thousands of years into the future. (Read the rest of the article here.)

An obvious first question, for someone like me who hasn't looked much at nuclear power, is how much fuel is available. Here's an overview article attempting to answer that question.

Another recent article about titanium dioxide provides a counter-argument against putting all our eggs in the nuclear basket. The base article for the thread implies a solution to the nuclear waste issue. IF titanium figures in our energy future in any way (maybe others yet to be discovered), we have a savings account on the moon. (Of course, we would probably get into a conflict, over mining it, with the aliens based there. )

I think all energy solutions requiring chemical extraction from the environment (i.e., from it's natural occurrence) are subject to "finiteness" and possible unknown deleterious effects on the Earth "system." (Just how much of life's evolved status is customized to the existing arrangement of materials in the surrounding environment for life forms? For instance, IF we decided that sea water was of value for some mineral (or even as a source for creating fresh water) how much of a change could/would it withstand (such as salinity, or mineral content) before certain lifeforms might begin to be affected in negative ways leading to a cascade or domino effect? Just a musing. The point being, we don't know.)

Will we someday conclude that low-tech living is the most sustainable paradigm for our species? Or, possibly, locally produced energy (), on an individual residence basis? (Toshiba technology Wiki article.) If so, maybe a combination of methods would power a household. (Somehow, the thought of millions of small nuclear reactors plastered across the map doesn't appeal to me.)

Just looking at the few links I came across in making this post, actually, has me thinking there is no shortage of possible solutions to a sustainable energy future. Lots of minds working on it. Do they have a chance, though, as long as fossil fuels (coal and oil) reign supreme? (i.e., The energy "powers" that be can support or hinder those ideas -- who gets funding, for instance, and then who funds its commercialization, etc., in which case we have to wonder just how many potentially good ideas fall by the wayside.)