I imported / copied this blog of mine from Facebook just to test this feature out. Enjoy. I have wondered since departing the Navy, some of the main differences in the way the commercial nuclear industry is run compared to the military. One of the things I found out throughout my training in the Navy was the difference in uranium enrichment in the fuel rods. (For those of you reading this that know virtually nothing about nuclear power, that is the amount of fissionable Uranium (U-235) in a given amount of Uranium (which is typically mostly U-238)). It wasn't until today that I found out why the Navy enriches their fuel so much more. I know there are a few people on my friends list working in the commercial nuclear industry, so maybe you can confirm this for me. The Navy enriches their fuel to around 95% U-235. (I forget the exact number, but that sounds about right). The commercial industry is actually limited to only 2-3% enrichment, and henceforth, they have to refuel every two years or so. Most Navy ships can go for more than a decade. The ship I was on last refueled in 1996, and won't refuel ever again before decommissioning in 2013. The reason that commercial nuclear plants don't enrich their fuel more, is because in the event of a nuclear meltdown (which is next to impossible with all the safegaurds in place at plants now), the plants are designed such that noone within a certain radius of the plant will receive more than 1 Rem of dose from any type of nuclear accident. This takes into account fuel enrichment in the reactors, the amount of spent fuel and radioactive waste being kept on site, etc. All this time I figured the companies just couldn't afford to enrich it any further. It's actually regulated by the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission). Another interesting thing I heard... Since commercial nuclear plants started popping up in the United States in the 1970's, the owning companies have been investing money (billions of dollars at this point) in some sort of storage facility or fuel reprocessing plant to offload all the radioactive waste that they generate. Every nuclear plant has been storing their spent fuel on site. In some cases, if something doesn't come along soon, they'll have to shut down due to the regulation described above because of how much waste they have on site. The Yucca Mountain storage facility was supposed to open years ago, and it was all paid for by these companies. There is so much red tape and political bullshit to go through, it's just ridiculous. These companies should be furious (and probably are) that their money was wasted on building a facility that the politicians refuse to open. If the U.S. really wants to get serious about energy independance, a storage facility or reprocessing plant should be a top priority. Wind, hydro, and solar cannot meet the electrical demands of our country alone. Enough venting... time for me to relax.

Indian Point Nuclear Plant in Buchanan, NY