Originally posted by: QuantumPion
FYI Carter was not actually a nuclear engineer, although he was interested. He served on board a Diesel submarine (but left the service before the Nautilus was launched). He took one intro course on nuclear engineering but never finished a degree or program.Originally posted by: CLite
*edit: actual correct information on the ban"Originally posted by: BrownTown
Just as point of fact, reprocessing IS legal in this country, all Carter did was cut off government funding for reprocessing, private businesses could still do it if they were able to get through the red tape (which they can't). Really, reprocessing does NOT make sense given how cheap uranium is right now (uranium costs 1/3 of what copper does for example which might surprise some here), but it may make sense in the future which is why this spent fuel is so valuable. People act like its a terrible waste product, but in reality some day it will likely be very valuable.Originally posted by: CLite
Carter (i.e. worst president in history, betrayer of engineers) instituted legislation to prevent recycling because he thought it would set an example to stop proliferation. His plan sucked donkey balls and now France is technologically superior to us in this field.
I really dislike Carter because he was a nuclear engineer who spread dis-information to the common public. His true legacy is the death of future investment in the building of nuclear power plants after TMI. He was truly ignorant about the risks of proliferation due to the reprocessing cycle. Also I already posted in this thread about how reprocessing is not cost effective given the cost of mined uranium, however I don't think this should of precluded us from maintaining our technical superiority in the field.
You're right. I remember meeting someone at a nuclear conference who said Jimmy Carter spent time at his nuclear facility in Canada. After some time spent googling I realize now he was just part of the cleanup effort. The point is though he was an engineer who betrayed the profession of engineering by giving into hysteria after TMI instead of been a calming voice of reason.