Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "WaPo UNLEASHES: Biden's 10 Biggest Failures Of 2023 | The Kyle Kulinski Show" video.

ENGINEER HERE On that 9th point about Russian Enriched Uranium Sorry if this is a long comment, but this is a subject that's getting almost zero coverage anywhere in the world right now. WaPo's description is woefully inadequate and as a result Kyle has totally misunderstood the issue. RIGHT NOW 1 in 20 American homes is powered by nuclear fuel that comes from Russia because America DOES NOT produce enough enriched Uranium to supply its existing power stations. Trying to explain this as simply as possible. Between the Uranium Mine and the Nuclear Power station is the Enrichment plant which is where they increase the percentage of Uranium-235. Its similar in principle to the oil refinery that's between the oil well and the gas station. The major issue that the pro-nuclear lobby is NOT mentioning is the capacity of the enrichment plants. There's not enough capacity in America so they have to get the rest of the enriched fuel needed somewhere else and that somewhere else is Russia because they actually have spare capacity. I first became aware of this when Jame Krellenstein was recently interviewed on Decouple Media on the subject of Enrichment including how its done and the history and the current status of enrichment. That interview is here on YT and if you are pro or anti nuclear its worth your time to go watch it. As an Engineer I was fully aware of what enrichment is and how its done, but was NOT AWARE of much of the History or the current status. That's why I'm giving James Krellenstein credit for what he's been trying to explain to people. Here's my brief explanation on enrichment and the problem. Enrichment (as said) is sort of like refinement in that it takes raw stuff and makes it useable but its more complex because your separating isotopes not oil. Natural Uranium is roughly 99.2% Uranium-238 with about 0.7% being Uranium-235 and the other 0.1% being other Uranium isotopes. Natural uranium can be used in special reactors like the Canadian CANDU, but for the rest of the nuclear energy industry they typically want between 5% and 8% U-235. Military reactors like those used in submarines can be as high as 20% which is how some of those run for 20-25 years without re-fuelling. Weapons have to be at least 20% but they don't work that well until it gets up around 80%. This is why its called enrichment because its making the Uranium richer in U-235. Traditionally there's been 2 ways to do this. In the West we used a process called Gas Diffusion. The Russians used Gas Centrifuges which was actually a German method going back to World War 2 (go watch that Krellenstein interview to hear about that - parts of which are sort of funny). The big difference is how much energy those 2 systems use. Gas Diffusion uses more than 30x the energy that Gas Centrifuges use. When the French switched to gas centrifuges they reduced the energy needed to produce the fuel for their reactors by more than 97%. I went and checked out part of what James Krellenstein said about this. The new plant, which cost €3 Billion, uses about 75 Megawatts. The 3,000 MW that was freed up earns more than €800 Million a year. So that plant was paid off in less than 4 years while French society basically got a bonus of an extra 3,000MW of cheap power because it was already built and paid off. So the French have their own capacity to supply themselves and others with the fuel they need. Because of neglect in this area America has 1 plant in Arizona that is owned by Urenco a consortium of British Government, Dutch Government and German PRIVATE ownership and it uses Gas Centrifuges. That plant (although substantial) does NOT supply enough for the existing American nuclear plants which is why America buys fuel from Russia. There were other plants in places like Ohio but they used Gas Diffusion and failed. So right now America NOT ONLY has a shortage of nuclear fuel production it also DOES NOT OWN any of its enrichment system that supplies 19% of America's energy. This is NOT just an issue for the 1 in 20 American homes powered by Russian nuclear fuel, but it also needs to be put into the political context of what America told the Germans about being dependent on Russian gas. Because according to politicians like Joe Biden it was bad for Germany to be dependent on Russian gas but now we find out that its fine for America to be dependent on Russian enriched uranium. Sorry this was longish but that's the story WaPo and Kyle are NOT telling you. And if you have time go watch that interview with James Krellenstein on Decouple Media here on YT. And so we are clear I have nothing to do with Decouple Media and have never met or talked to James Krellenstein its just open of the most informative interviews on nuclear energy I have seen.
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On that spy balloon go and watch Peter Zeihan's take on it. In a nutshell by letting it fly over American airspace they were able to monitor EVERYTHING it did and transmitted. After they shot it down they were able to recover it and then workout how all the Chinese technology worked. According Peter Z. its been one of the best security bonuses ever in that US agencies were able to decode everything and trace the information all the way back to the terminals (computers) in China where the operators sat.
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@gootmanboats3864 NO and the simple answer is America is dependent on Russian enriched Uranium because America DOES NOT produce enough of its own and NOBODY ELSE has enough excess capacity to supply what America needs. What production America does have are Gas Centrifuges and they are just as efficient as what the Russians have there's just not enough capacity to produce what America needs. Also that system (in Arizona) is NOT owned by Americans its owned by Europeans. Possibly there's another place in America where they make some for the military or research because there are places like Livermore Labs and Idaho National Labs, but who knows. It's a complicated history which is so convoluted I had to listen to it several times to get WTF happened, but here's the basics. America started with (like others) Gas Diffusion which requires over 30x the energy to produce the same amount of enriched Uranium. That didn't matter until the American producers faced competition from the Europeans, but then the Europeans only had that advantage because the Russians and Americans BOTH drank a jug of stupid juice. At the end of WW2 the Russians captured the Germans who knew how to do Gas Centrifuges which is how they got the bomb and a nuclear power industry, BUT the Russians never realised just how much of an advantage they had and let the Germans go home and that was their jug of stupid juice. One of those Germans went to America but America didn't believe anyone could have superior technology to America and that was their jug of stupid juice. So the German went back to Europe where finally someone listened. Then the Europeans went back to America with the technology the American's didn't believe existed and through the beautiful simplicity of American Free Market Capitalism were more competitive than the American companies who then went broke and now the Europeans with their plant in Arizona are America's main supplier. But for all sorts of reasons that plant in Arizona doesn't produce enough to meet America's needs so America has had to go to the Russians to get the rest of what they need. And if that sounds as FKD UP as the Denver Broncos benching Russel Wilson (no relation) to avoid paying his injury insurance its because it is that FKD UP. Its about as logical as 32 NFL teams thinking there were 198 players better than Tom Brady or that there were 261 players better than Brock Purdy. FYI - I'm a Niners fan and I can't explain how Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy is "the guy" but he is.
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On that CHINESE SPY BALLOON go and watch Peter Zeihan's take on it. In a nutshell by letting it fly over American airspace they were able to monitor EVERYTHING it did and transmitted. After they shot it down they were able to recover it and then workout how all the Chinese technology worked. According Peter Z. its been one of the best security bonuses ever in that US agencies were able to decode everything and trace the information all the way back to the terminals (computers) in China where the operators sat. In other words its (possibly) allowed American agencies access into the Chinese systems at a level they have never had previously.
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