Nuclear 101 (through 238)

So: Nuclear Power. If you can pronounce it, we can talk about it (that means W, stop here).
An editorial in the Washington Post this morning discussed the reemergence of nuclear power plants throughout the world, and how this is a positive step for cleaner, more reliable energy, and how "...this thinking is eclipsing old-school anti-nuclear environmentalism."
Uh-oh.
My first reaction was, "WHAT!?" Do they know WHY environmentalism was anti-nuclear in the first place? It isn't just because melt-downs can and have caused worldwide radioactive contamination that have killed thousands over a long, slow agonizing period, or that in this age of homeland security nuclear power plants are essentially huge HIT IT HERE marks.
First and foremost, by switching more completely to nuclear power, we aren't solving anything. We are replacing one finite resource (and hazardous bi-product) with another. Historically this has occurred, with the same basic results: we run out and switch to something else. We (as a species) relied on wood for energy and heat; we began to run out of trees. So we went to blubber; we ran low on whales. Then on to coal; mined up the most available of it. Switch to petroleum; now we go to war and dig up things we've historically called 'Wildlife Refuges' to find even a tiny bit more. Nuclear power is no different--we will mine pitchblende and refine it until we run low, then this situation will arise again. At least we are consistent, no?
The biggest problem with nuclear power is that its waste isn't CO2 (as it is with wood, coal and petroleum) but rather, radioactive spent fuel rods, that have a half-life of between 6,500 and 24,000 but can be up to 4.47 billion years (yeah that's billion years. The half-life depends on the amount of P-240 and U-238 isotopes left in the rod--the more U-238, the greater the half-life). Basically that means that the fuel rods are, and will be, highly radioactive for at least that amount of time. So radioactive in fact that they cannot be handled, breathed or around organisms or water; they must be held in an lead and concrete lined, secure area. Hence the whole Yucca Mountain debate, where the US government is trying to assure us that they can build a secure facility that can hold these spent radioactive fuel rods for the next 24,000 years or so without them leaking, being dug up and used for weapons, or killing us all.
Nuclear Power Basics:
Nuclear power plants are run similarly to a coal or petroleum power plant--they create enough steam to drive massive turbines, which generate immense amounts of power. This energy is from nuclear fission, which is sorta complicated and I won't get into it, dealing with nuclei being split with neutron. Ooh big chem words. The basic "fuel" is uranium, which has three basic isotopes found naturally: U-235, U-238, and U-238 (difference: number of neutrons, but you knew that). The isotope U-235 is important because under certain conditions it can be easily split, producing immense amounts of energy, so that's the magic potion for the power plants.
Lots of science makes the U-235 eventually break down into P-240 (plutonium isotope), and when the level of U-235 in the rods is too low, the spent fuel rods are removed (an average power plant produces about 25 tonnes a year, each containing about 640lbs of plutonium). Now there is a process to recycle these rods to get the 'usable' isotopes out of those spent fuel rods, but guess which is the only country in the world that won't do it? Yup. That's US. So yeah, that's some really, really nasty shit that we get to keep as little rods that we must hang onto for 20,000 years or so.
And here's my favorite part: the SO WHAT? factor...
While nuclear power is much more efficient than any of the current generators, it is still finite, extremely hazardous and produces long-term byproducts that we are not equipped to deal with.
The solution that needs to be addressed is not just our source of power, but the ridiculous amount we use. Basically we just need to use less, which requires a greater paradigm shift than a shift in power supply allows.
Curtain.