News Forum - Thailand plans nuclear reactors with US help

[Thaiger]

US Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the United States would work with Thailand to create new small nuclear reactors. The programme is aimed at producing nuclear power in the country to fight climate change. The nuclear reactors are part of the Net Zero World programme launched last year. Right now, Thailand doesn’t have any nuclear power. Public sentiment has been generally against nuclear power for the last decade, after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in Japan in 2011. The American vice president announced the plan this morning at the ongoing APEC summit in Bangkok this week. The programme was […]

The story Thailand plans nuclear reactors with US help as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Soidog]

Jesus H Christ. What could possibly go wrong!

[HolyCowCm]

Let's just hope enough common sense is taken to avoid putting them in one of these areas with shakers or prone to floods:

 

https://floodlist.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Flooding-rivers-in-Thailand-October-2022-1024x772.jpg

[Rookiescot]

1 hour ago, HolyCowCm said:

Let's just hope enough common sense is taken to avoid putting them in one of these areas with shakers or prone to floods:

https://floodlist.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Flooding-rivers-in-Thailand-October-2022-1024x772.jpg

Actually the fault line shown near Udon is not actually a fault line.

The chicken vindaloo was very tasty but dear God I paid a heavy price the following day.

[Soidog]

1 hour ago, HolyCowCm said:

Let's just hope enough common sense

I’m even more worried now you have used the phrase “Common sense”. This is something I rarely, if ever see anywhere, especially not in Thailand. Unless the Thai version includes undertaking a car with its left indicator on? Or using multiple mains extension leads across walkways? Or perhaps using flip flops as footwear on building sites? Or hooking telco cables on top one each other strewn from poles? Or transporting multiple full gas cylinders on a sidecar? Safety is paramount in the nuclear industry and Thailand is a bastion for safety. So all should be fine!  
 

Well at least if it does go wrong there will be mountains and mountains of paperwork for investigators to sift through. 

[Grumpish]

1 hour ago, Soidog said:

I’m even more worried now you have used the phrase “Common sense”. This is something I rarely, if ever see anywhere, especially not in Thailand. Unless the Thai version includes undertaking a car with its left indicator on? Or using multiple mains extension leads across walkways? Or perhaps using flip flops as footwear on building sites? Or hooking telco cables on top one each other strewn from poles? Or transporting multiple full gas cylinders on a sidecar? Safety is paramount in the nuclear industry and Thailand is a bastion for safety. So all should be fine!  
 

Well at least if it does go wrong there will be mountains and mountains of paperwork for investigators to sift through. 

It will be OK, nothing to worry about - blessings by the monks and a few amulets about the place will keep it safe.

[Soidog]

36 minutes ago, Grumpish said:

It will be OK, nothing to worry about - blessings by the monks and a few amulets about the place will keep it safe.

Of course. I forgot about that. Silly me. I can sleep tonight now

[Soidog]

Will the US really supply technology like this to Thailand given their fence post up the ass foreign policy and their cosiness to China?  

[Grumpish]

Perhaps they will, knowing that at best the Thai's will only manage to machine gun themselves in the legs with it. And the Chinese probably stole the technology a long time ago. 

[Skip]

And yet Kamala and the democraps are dead set against nuclear power production in the USA... hmmmm

[MrStretch]

THIS is part of their "green" plan for the future?

Amazing Thailand.  What could possibly go wrong?

[Pinetree]

Good on them.  Probably the cleanest, most efficient and safe way of going.  During the build, no doubt China will provide the training. 

[Pinetree]

1 hour ago, MrStretch said:

THIS is part of their "green" plan for the future?

Amazing Thailand.  What could possibly go wrong?

Inevitably nothing will go wrong at all. 

[Pinetree]

15 hours ago, Soidog said:

Will the US really supply technology like this to Thailand given their fence post up the ass foreign policy and their cosiness to China?  

I doubt it, but the Chinese definitely will, just as they wanted to do in the UK , before the Brits got cold feet. 

[Soidog]

8 minutes ago, Pinetree said:

I doubt it, but the Chinese definitely will, just as they wanted to do in the UK , before the Brits got cold feet. 

I agree. The Cameron premiership got fooled by the Chinese. Thank god subsequent leaders saw the dangers involved of getting too close to a dictator like Xi. 

[ExpatPattaya]

The world economic professionals and businesses need to move toward sustainability WITHOUT population growth.  This week world population reached 8 Billion people.  Feeding, housing, watering, and electrifying more and more humans is simply not sustainable anymore.  

Does any country realize that unchecked growth of the human population is putting a strain on resources and the ability to grow food and provide fresh water for its peoples?   

"If we don't halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity- and will leave a ravaged world."

-Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry W. Kendall  

 

[Soidog]

24 minutes ago, ExpatPattaya said:

The world economic professionals and businesses need to move toward sustainability WITHOUT population growth.  This week world population reached 8 Billion people.  Feeding, housing, watering, and electrifying more and more humans is simply not sustainable anymore.  

Does any country realize that unchecked growth of the human population is putting a strain on resources and the ability to grow food and provide fresh water for its peoples?   

"If we don't halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity- and will leave a ravaged world."

-Nobel Laureate Dr. Henry W. Kendall  

This is a great quote from Dr Kendall. I believe the world will not solve this looming problem. The population will continue to grow and nature will indeed deal with it. The same goes for climate change. Regardless of if you believe it’s man made or not. Something appears to be changing and the world will not deal with it. I don’t personally worry about any of it. We are a part of the planets ecosystem and so we are at its mercy. No amount of technology or science can prevent it. Humans are greedy and tribal and ultimately we will all pay the price.  Enjoy your few years of living and don’t stress about anything. Ultimately none of it is worth it. 

[Pinga]

6 hours ago, ExpatPattaya said:

"If we don't halt population growth with justice and compassion, it will be done for us by nature, brutally and without pity- and will leave a ravaged world."

Either that, or technology will prevail - at least in countries that can afford it, that is. My home country used to suffer from chronic shortage of fresh water, however new technologies in desalinating seawater completely turned that around and the shortage was completely eliminated, and new facilities could be built if the population increases. Soil (lack of) issues could be handled by vertical farming or hydrophonics or another technology. The only thing that can't (and arguably shouldn't) increase is space for livestock - but even there it is likely that technological advances such as lab-grown meat will eventually replace at least the more resource-consuming livestock like cattle (don't get me wrong - I love me some steak - but if the taste, texture, and nutrition are the same then I don't care where it came from).

Well, either that, or we're all doomed and entire regions (Africa comes to mind) will starve to death in the not so distant future! 

Ohh and back to topic: same as above, I understand the worry about Thailand's safety standards and nuclear energy, but nuclear power generation (especially recent advances) is incredibly safe - Fukushima was a failure in planning and design and could've/should've been prevented. Out of over 60,000 nuclear power plants worldwide there have only been TWO major disasters over many many decades - now that's a track record you can sleep at night with. Also- assuming the US assists with this, it'll be US engineers who'll design safety standards.

[Soidog]

Where do you get the figure of 60,000 nuclear reactors. Surely the total figure is closer to 750-1,000 given there are only 437 reactors currently in use.

If we include Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile island, Windscale and possibly a couple more close misses never reported on in China and former Soviet Union and the failure rate isn’t so remarkable. I agree modern reactors and the lessons learned make them far far safer today than 40 years ago, but we say that about aircraft safety, yet they still crash even today. I’m all for Nuclear power but it isn’t without risks, the consequences of which can be devastating, not to mention long term solution to waste. 

[Rookiescot]

7 hours ago, Soidog said:

This is a great quote from Dr Kendall. I believe the world will not solve this looming problem. The population will continue to grow and nature will indeed deal with it. The same goes for climate change. Regardless of if you believe it’s man made or not. Something appears to be changing and the world will not deal with it. I don’t personally worry about any of it. We are a part of the planets ecosystem and so we are at its mercy. No amount of technology or science can prevent it. Humans are greedy and tribal and ultimately we will all pay the price.  Enjoy your few years of living and don’t stress about anything. Ultimately none of it is worth it. 

Nah the population in developed countries is collapsing (even China). Its only in undeveloped countries where it is still continuing to grow. Which are the very countries where you want that growth the least ironically. 

As for climate change being man made or natural. I think that debate is asinine. Fact is we have ONE place to live and we have spent thousands of years trashing our own home. Its time we stopped doing that.

If climate change is man made its a good idea to stop. If climate change is natural then its still a good idea to stop. If climate change is a combination of the two then its still a good idea to stop wrecking our own home. 

We only have 600 million years left anyway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_of_Earth#Loss_of_oceans

And yes I know people will still be arguing over brexit as the planet is finally sucked into the sun as it becomes a red giant 

[Rookiescot]

1 hour ago, Pinga said:

I love me some steak - but if the taste, texture, and nutrition are the same then I don't care where it came from

Stuff like this is now available.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn

Like most foods its probably best not to think too hard about how it is made.

However it is produced on an industrial scale and those manufacturing plants need energy so more nuclear plants will sustain food levels. It is (apparently) 80% less damaging to the environment to produce this meat substitute than it is to raise a cow. Although I cant actually find figures to prove that claim and how it was arrived at.

Maybe the cow was taking 3 holidays a year in the Sechele's or something.