Tournament: Pepperdine | Round: All | Opponent: All | Judge: All

1 AC

Observation: Nuclear Renaissance

Other power sources will not meet our needs like nuclear, other nations are moving forward

Alexander, 10 Lamar, “Lamar Alexander: Nuclear Energy is Cheap and Reliable,” US News, July 19, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/07/19/Lamar-Alexander-Nuclear-Energy-Is-Cheap-and-Reliable

Now the rest of the world is returning to nuclear energy...Americans can’t afford to ignore nuclear power.

Observation: IFR is the Best Nuclear Technology

The story of EBR-II, how the IFR was proven safe, proliferation-resistant, competitive, and capable of recycling waste

Westfall, 04 Catherine, Laboratory Historian for Argonne National Laboratory, “Vision and Reality: the EBR-II Story,” Nuclear News, February 2004, http://www.ne.anl.gov/About/reactors/EBR2-NN-2004-2-2.pdf

Nearly 20 years later, in August 1964, a reactor much like the one described by the...someday there will be an EBR-III, just like Zinn and Fermi thought.”

IFRs are the best nuclear technology

Steve Kirsch 11/25/2009 Why We Should Build an Integral Fast Reactor Now http://skirsch.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/ifr/

Nuclear is our best clean power technology and the IFR is our best...Our economy will benefit and our planet will too.

France is a real-world example – a decade is all it would take for full-scale implementation

Tom Blees 2012 Nuclear Roads Not Taken (Yet) in Germany, Japan and the US, May 31 2012, http://theenergycollective.com/barrybrook/86298/roads-not-taken-yet

France had already clearly demonstrated just how quickly a country could convert...a similar conversion to nuclear power using PRISM systems within about a decade.

Observation: The Need for Federal Action

Congressional action is key – left to its own devices, DOE will just continue to research

Steve Kirsch 11/25/2009 Why We Should Build an Integral Fast Reactor Now http://skirsch.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/ifr/

How is it that we need more research today, yet 44 years ago, we had sufficient research...If Congress requests nothing, then that’s what we will get: nothing.

Hence the plan: The United States federal government should substantially increase loan guarantees for integral fast reactors using the S-PRISM design.

Loan Guarantees

Current loan guarantees aren’t enough – more on new reactor types are key to catalyze nuclear construction and solve nuclear leadership

Belogolova 12 National Journal Daily, July 19, 2012, “U.S. Nuclear Industry Seen Needing a Boost”, Olga Belogolova, lexis, khirn

A robust nuclear-energy industry should be a high priority for the country's energy and national-security...that talks with DOE were going slowly and they might not be willing to wait any longer.

Loan guarantees attract private capital – increases are key

Peskoe 12 Ari Peskoe, associate in the law firm of McDermott Will and Emery LLP and focuses his practice on regulatory, legislative, compliance, and transactional issues related to energy markets, 4-20-2012, "A Solution Looking For a Problem: Building More Nuclear Reactors after Vogtle," The Electricty Journal, vol 25 issue 3, Science Direct

Given the checkered history of reactor construction projects,56 private lenders are understandably skittish about lending...but the federal treasury would likely cover much of the liabilities associate with a nuclear disaster.

At this point, Jordan and I read two or three advantages selected from below before the round.

Advantage: Warming

On the brink of runaway warming

Hansen, 09 (Jim, professor of environmental studies at Columbia, “Strategies to Address Global Warming and Is Sundance Kid a Criminal?” 7-13-09, http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2009/20090713_ Strategies.pdf)

Our global climate is nearing tipping points. Changes are beginning to appear, and there is a potential...a situation that should be unacceptable to humanity. 

Energy production via fossil fuels is the biggest source of air pollution

Greenhalg 2002 (Robin Greenhalg, environment researcher and freelance writer, “Fossil Fuel and Its Impact on the Environment,” http://www.essortment.com/all/fossilfuelimpa_rhxu.htm)

There is a growing concern regarding the collaboration between fossil fuels and environmental pollution...not to mention the land degradation and human illness.

Expanding nuclear energy is key to a clean grid and reduced greenhouse gases due to its proven ability to offset fossil fuels

NEI 12 Nuclear Energy Institute, “Protecting the Environment,” July 2012, http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/documentlibrary/protectingtheenvironment
/factsheet/nuclearenergyandtheenvironment/

Clean-air energy sources—nuclear energy facilities, hydroelectric power and renewables—help minimize...sector accounts for 33 percent of total carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion.

Warming causes extinction

Tickell, Climate researcher 2008
(Oliver, Climate Researcher, The Guardian, “On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinction”, 8-11, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/Aug 11)

We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight...warming caused by human emissions could propel us towards a similar hothouse Earth.

Advantage: Proliferation

Spent nuclear fuel in the status quo risks terrorism – fast reactors solve

Nuclear Threat Initiative 12 Nuclear Threat Initiative, "Why Is Highly Enriched Uranium a Threat?" Prepared by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, 8-1-2012, http://www.nti.org/analysis/reports/civilian-heu-reduction-and-elimination/

The most difficult challenge for a terrorist organization seeking to build a nuclear weapon...441 reactors have been shut down or decommissioned, while eight are planned or under construction.

Transition to IFRs creates a global proliferation resistant fuel cycle

Stanford, 10 Dr George S. Stanford, nuclear reactor physicist, retired from Argonne National Laboratory, "Q%26A on Integral Fast Reactors – safe, abundant, non-polluting power," 9/18/10, http://bravenewclimate.com/2010/09/18/ifr-fad-7/

Thermal reactors with reprocessing would do at least a little better. Recycling (it would be with the PUREX process, or an equivalent...The IFR, obviously, is just such a fuel cycle—a prime candidate for “continued consideration.”

Prolif leads to nuclear war

Sokolski, 09 Henry, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, serves on the U.S. congressional Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism; Avoiding a Nuclear Crowd; http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/46390537.html#n14

Combine these proliferation trends with the others noted above and one could easily create...proponents of nuclear abolition, nor their critics, would ever want. 

Advantage: Energy Security

Our addiction to fossil fuels will lead to increase tensions in chaotic nations

Tom Buis MAY 23, 2012 American Families Need American Fuel American Families Need American Fuelhttp://energy.nationaljournal.com/2012/05/powering-our-military-whats-th.php

Our nation is dangerously dependent on foreign oil. We import some 9 million barrels per day,...in the Department of Defense’s bottom line – a debt that will be passed along to the American taxpayer.

Energy dependence is the cause of wars. Nuclear Solves

Barry Brook 24 February 2011  Advanced nuclear power systems to mitigate climate change (Part III) http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/02/24/advanced-nuclear-power-systems-to-mitigate-climate-change/

The supply of fossil fuels is limited, although the actual limits of each different type are...anti-nuclear political pressure under the banner of environmentalism is globally infamous.

Energy wars will go nuclear

Matthews ‘09 Owen, writer for The Mail news service, “The coldest war: Russia and U.S. face off over Arctic resources”

The year is 2020, and, from the Middle East to Nigeria, the world is convulsed by a series of conflicts over dwindling energy...not least because Russia has such a dismal record on nuclear safety and the disposal of radioactive waste. 

Advantage: Nuclear Leadership

Federal action key to maintain American leadership

Wallace and Williams, ‘12(Michael (head of the Transatlantic Program at the Royal United Services Institute) and Sarah (program coordinator and research associate in the U.S. Nuclear Energy Project at CSIS), “Nuclear Energy in America: Preventing its Early Demise”, CSIS, 2012, RSR)

The results were not perfect, but America’s institutional support for global nonproliferation goals and the regulatory behaviors...must recognize the invaluable role played by the commercial U.S. nuclear industry and take action to prevent its early demise.

A domestic nuclear industry is key to keeping our edge – without it China will outpace us in energy policy creating a shift in the balance of power globally

SCOTT CULLINANE  28 SEPTEMBER 2011 America Falling Behind: The Strategic Dimensions of Chinese Commercial Nuclear Energy http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_contentandview=articleandid=319:america-falling-behind
-the-strategic-dimensions-of-chinese-commercial-nuclear-energyandcatid=118:contentandItemid=376

In the context of US – PRC relations, nuclear energy is more than a matter of generating electrical power; it is a critical issue...efforts to clearly identify the situation and ensure that policy conforms to strategy in order for the US to advance its position. 

The U.S. is the only thing standing between great power competitions in Asia – arms races, miscalc and all-out conflict would result as China grabs at power

Khalilzad, 2011 (Writer of Heg Cards, Feb 8, http://www.nationalreview.com/author/259022/latest)

We face this domestic challenge while other major powers are experiencing rapid economic growth. Even though countries such as China, India, and Brazil...the United States is the most significant barrier facing Chinese hegemony and aggression.

These conflicts go nuclear

UK Defence Forum, 2003  Regional Studies 8: “Conflict In The South China Sea,” Jan 20, 2003 http://www.ukdf.org.uk/regional/rs8.htm

The oil rich and strategically important Spratly Islands archipelago is one of the world's most important flash points....despotic leadership, those leaders will attack their neighbours because they think they can get away with it.

Advantage: Waste

Nuclear reprocessing re-invigorates the nuclear industry and eliminates the need for Yucca Mountain

Jack Spencer, Research Fellow in Nuclear Energy in the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, November 15, 2007, The Heritage Foundation, Competitive Nuclear Energy Investment: Avoiding Past Policy Mistakes, http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/bg2086.cfm

The U.S. government even banned entire com¬mercial technologies outright. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter dealt the U.S. nuclear industry...no new orders have been placed since 1977, although some of plants ordered by 1977 have since become operational.

Any other nuclear reactor will forces NRC to reverse termination of Yucca Mountain due to court-ordered resolution of disposal problem

Post and Courier, 2012.  August 20 http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20120820/PC1002/120829989/1022/restart-yucca-mountain-project

Nuclear plants in South Carolina and Georgia were given the go-ahead by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission early in 2012...problem the NRC can actually do something about, namely reversing the unilateral decision of former chairman Gregory Jaczko to terminate the Yucca Mountain waste repository.

Fuel cycle in IFR only produces waste with very short lives and very low radioactivity that are easily contained

Till, 1997.  Charles, nuclear physicist and associate lab director at Argonne National Laboratory, “Interview, Frontline’s Nuclear Reaction: Why do American’s fear nuclear power?” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/interviews/till.html

Q: Take us through the fuel cycle, as it refers to the IFR.¶ A: The way the fuel cycle is done now is: you mine uranium;...that will certainly last long enough to take care of the radioactive lives of materials that it's asked to contain.

Yucca Mountain would lead to extinction and the destruction of the biosphere – our probability is infinite

David Comarow, Testimony presented at US Department of Energy Public Hearing, Attorney at Law, Yucca Mountain: Time to Think the Unthinkable, 2K1

We have come a long way in a very short time indeed. But 225 years is nothing when it comes to the slow transmutation of Uranium 235 to lead...Punch a hole in America's most dangerous stockpile - the legacy of decades of the promise of nuclear power - "too cheap to meter."

High risk of accidents which results in extinction

David Comarow, Testimony presented at US Department of Energy Public Hearing, Attorney at Law, Yucca Mountain: Time to Think the Unthinkable, 2K1

While theories of "autocatalytic criticality" caused by flooding have been widely rejected, new findings about the geology...nuclear criticality - certainly the dirtiest fission explosion ever. It could be the last bookkeeping error mankind ever made.

Advantage: Uranium Racism

IFRs solve for mining

Steve Kirsch 11/25/2009 (“Why We Should Build an Integral Fast Reactor Now” http://skirsch.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/ifr/)

Unlimited clean power. The IFR allows us to power the entire US electricity needs for the next 1,500 years without doing any additional mining of uranium; using just the “waste” we have on-hand that nobody wants. The power is carbon free. If we mine, we can power the power needs of the entire planet forever.

Cree Natives opposed to new mining, continued efforts will lead to war

Lalonde, 12 Michelle, “Opposition to Uranium mining won’t change: Cree,” The Montreal Gazette, 10/23/12, http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Cree+their+opposition+uranium+mines
+change+despite+approval+from+Canadian+Nuclear+Safety+Commission/7434955/story.html

The next step in the proposed uranium mine project near Mistissini in northern Quebec got a green light from the Canadian Nuclear Safety...go into a war, a political war, over Cree lands,” it has to say no to this type of development, Lapointe said. 

Uranium mining accompanied by atrocities in Africa

Aldred, Guardian, 08 (Jessica, “Awards shine spotlight on big business green record,” The Guardian, January, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jan/22/corporatesocialresponsibility)

The corporation judged to have wreaked the most social and ecological damage is to be named and shamed at the Public Eye awards tomorrow...their professional code of ethics should not be subject to this kind of suspicion," a spokesperson said.

The dumping of nuclear waste on Native Americans is environmental racism

Brook, 98 (Daniel Brook, "Environment Genocide: Native Americans and Toxic Waste", American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Jan., 1998, Vol. 57, pp. 105-106, Nalepka)

GENOCIDE AGAINST NATIVE AMERICANS continues in modern times with modern¶ techniques....and¶ the Skull Valley Band of Goshute, have since applied for the $100,000¶ exploratory grants as well (Angel 1991, 16-17).

Racism is the root cause of violence

Foucault 76 (Michel, Society Must be Defended: Lectures at the College de France, 1975-1976, p. 254-257 Trans. David Macey, MV)

What in fact is racism? It is primarily a way of introducing a break into the domain of life that is under power's control:...since the second half of the nineteenth century), except by activating the theme of racism.

Seeking justice for this environmental racism is critical to preventing global collapse

Byrant 95 (Bunyan, Professor in the school of Natural Resources and Environment, and an adjunt professor in the center for Afro-American and African studies at the University of Michigan, “Environmental Justice: Issues, Policies, and Solutions, p.209-212, MV

The cooperative relations forged after World War II are now obsolete. New cooperative relations...eliminate all toxic materials from the production cycle, we should at least have that as a goal.

Tournament: Any | Round: Any | Opponent: Any | Judge: Any

Warming

Uniqueness

Warming is real and anthropogenic-all credible evidence concludes and only adequate explanation.

Rahmstorf, 2008 (Richard, Professor of Physics of the Oceans at Potsdam University, “Anthropogenic Climate Change?” Global Warming: Looking Beyond Kyoto. Edited by Ernesto Zedillo, pg 46-48)

It is time to address the final statement: most of the observed warming over the past fifty years...plethora of consistent evidence the chance that these conclusions are wrong has to be considered minute. 

Link

Fossil fuels are not sustainable, IFR’s are

Barry Brook 24 February 2011  Advanced nuclear power systems to mitigate climate change (Part III) http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/02/24/advanced-nuclear-power-systems-to-mitigate-climate-change/

Fossil fuels currently supply about 80% of humankind’s primary energy. Given the imperatives of climate...solve the most difficult energy problems facing humanity in the 21st century.

Nuclear power plants do not pollute

EPA, 10/7/12

Nuclear power plants do not emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, or nitrogen oxides as part of the power generation process. However, fossil fuel emissions are associated with the uranium mining and uranium enrichment process as well as the transport of the uranium fuel to and from the nuclear plant.

Because IFRs can be retrofitted into coal plants and use the same infrastructure they will take the place of coal plants —and jumpstarts the whole industry

Salmon 9 (Felix Salmon JUNE 23, 2009, Nuclear power: Going fast, http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/06/23/nuclear-power-going-fast/http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/06/23/nuclear-power-going-fast/)

PRISM is GE’s name for an integral fast reactor, or IFR,...to build new coal plants but replacing the existing ones, even the newest ones.

IFRs replace coal burners and eliminate CO2 emissions

Steve Kirsch 11/25/2009 (“Why We Should Build an Integral Fast Reactor Now” http://skirsch.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/ifr/)

The only technology we have with a realistic potential to save the planet...can eliminate CO2 emissions from coal plants without increasing energy costs. 

Impact

Warming collapses every region of the US economy

Ruth et al., Director, Center for Integrative Environmental Research, and Roy F. Weston Chair for Natural Economics, 2007
(Matthias, “The US Economic Impacts of Climate Change and the Costs of Inaction”, 10-18, http://www.cier.umd.edu/documents/US%20Economic%20Impacts%
20of%20Climate%20Change%20and%20the%20Costs%20of%20Inaction.pdf)

The effects of climate change will be felt by the entire nation...economic costs will likely be much higher than what is reported currently. 

Warming will wipe out microorganisms that are vital to planetary survival

ScienceDaily 2008
(“Climate Change Could Impact Vital Functions Of Microbes”, 6-8, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080603085922.htm)

Global climate change will not only impact plants and animals but...not quite sure how they will respond," says Treseder.

Warming runs away and causes extinction: Scenario 1

Burkett, Professor of Law University of Colorado Law School, 08
Maxine, “Just Solutions to Climate Change: A Climate Justice Proposal for a Domestic Clean Development Mechanism,” 56 Buffalo L. Rev. 169, 2/23/12

The unparalleled scale of impact the climate crisis has had and will continue to have on...warming as they struggle to moderate and cope with its consequences.

Warming runs away and causes extinction: Scenario 2

Brandenburg, member of the NASA Technical Advisory Committee of Technology and Commercialization, 1999
(John, Dead Mars, Dying Earth, pg 70)

Suddenly, the gradual climb in global temperatures goes on a mad excursion as the oceans warm...Earth becomes the second Mars – red, desolate, with perhaps a few hardy microbes surviving.

Warming turns Earth into Venus

Goodstein, Profeesor of Physics and Vice Provost at the California Institute of Technology, 2005
(David, “Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil”, pg 18)

The climate of Earth is in a fragile, metastable state that was probably created by life...its surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead. 

Tournament: Any | Round: Any | Opponent: Any | Judge: Any

Safety

Meltdown

IFRs are inherently safe because of physics

Brook, 2011 http://southsidedelite.blogspot.com/2011/04/advanced-nuclear-power-systems-to.html

LWRs operate with water under pressure,...on nothing but the laws of physics.

IFR cannot possibly melt down due to runaway reaction

Barton, 2009 Charles; http://energyfromthorium.com/2009/05/13/confusion-about-generation-4-reactors/

There is at present a great deal of confusion...a shut down of the reactor cooling system.

Passively safe IFR tested and proven meltdown-resistant

Department of Nuclear Engineering UC Berkeley, 2005

Advanced reactors of tomorrow can be even safer...regardless of how large they may be.

IFRs are statistically incapable of a meltdown

Brook, 2011 http://southsidedelite.blogspot.com/2011/04/advanced-nuclear-power-systems-to.html

While the IFR was under development, a consortium...is employed every day in aluminum foundries. 

Sodium

Sodium will not harm the vessel

Brook, 2011 http://southsidedelite.blogspot.com/2011/04/advanced-nuclear-power-systems-to.html

LWRs operate with water under pressure,...product decay heat from the core to dissipate.

Sodium is not reactive in the IFR, their science is wrong

Blees, Tom 2008 “Prescriptions of the planet” http://www.thesciencecouncil.com/pdfs/P4TP4U.pdf

But sodium is known to be a somewhat dangerous...and the argon would smother any fire.

Sodium is a highly-efficient, superior coolant

Fanning, Argonne, 2007 Thomas, H.; “Sodium as a Fast Reactor Coolant,” US Department of Energy, May 3, http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/SodiumCoolant_NRCpresentation.pdf

Thermophysical and thermal-hydraulic properties of sodium...No He-cooled (or gas-cooled) fast reactors.

Sodium air leaks are relatively harmless and easily identified

Fanning, Argonne, 2007 Thomas, H.; “Sodium as a Fast Reactor Coolant,” US Department of Energy, May 3, http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/SodiumCoolant_NRCpresentation.pdf

Sodium reaction with air is slow and causes...detection means leaks can be readily identified.

Sodium air leaks are relatively harmless and easily identified

Fanning, Argonne, 2007 Thomas, H.; “Sodium as a Fast Reactor Coolant,” US Department of Energy, May 3, http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/SodiumCoolant_NRCpresentation.pdf

Most sodium leaks have been small and...personnel or surrounding environment.

Sodium water ingresses detectable and not harmful

Fanning, Argonne, 2007 Thomas, H.; “Sodium as a Fast Reactor Coolant,” US Department of Energy, May 3, http://www.ne.doe.gov/pdfFiles/SodiumCoolant_NRCpresentation.pdf

Hydrogen detection plays a key role...Accommodate leak detection.

IFRs can withstand violent disasters

Blees, Tom  2008 “Prescriptions of the planet” http://www.thesciencecouncil.com/pdfs/P4TP4U.pdf

These worst-case scenario trials were...accident would be a virtual impossibility.

Nuclear, in General

Nuclear has the safest power generation

Kirsch, 11 Steve, “Lessons from Fukushima,” Huffington Post, July 25, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-kirsch/ten-lessons-from-fukushima_b_908276.html

We now can update our statistics on public deaths...statistically better than non-nuclear alternatives.

AT Incidents

AT Fukushima

Fukushima had an outdated design, IFRs avoid Fukushima’s problems

Kirsch, 11 Steve, “Lessons from Fukushima,” Huffington Post, July 25, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-kirsch/ten-lessons-from-fukushima_b_908276.html

We learned it is a bad idea to put generators in...statistically better than non-nuclear alternatives.

AT Monju

Monju was a harmless incident

Stanford, 2010 http://bravenewclimate.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/stanford-q-a-on-ifr-sept-2010-update.pdf

Not so fast! Seems to me there was a serious...since we need electricity.  I think so.