Nuclear Power is safe. Fuck you if you disagree.

Wow, Great link, PJ!

According to that, using a combination of Oil & coal instead of Nuclear is costing us 197 Lives per Terrawatt produced. -Whereas Nuclear only causes one single unlucky person a mild cough at the same time... Just 0.04 per Terrawatt!

That makes Oil and Coal together 4925 TIMES as deadly as Nuclear!

-But surely some scaredy-pants fool on here will religiously believe that nuclear is somehow more dangerous nonetheless... Might as well try to convert their faith.
 


papajohn56 said:
I'm not a nuclear engineer, but I know nuclear physics, have my degree in physics, graduate studies in physics at a top 10 nuclear physics program. I know how these plants work (on a physics level and general level) and what their safety features are.
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That's actually pretty cool.

Question: Based on the information today and the US recommendation of clearing out 50 mile radius is the Japanese government lying?

They had one scientist on that says this is well beyond Chernobyl, thoughts?

I think part of peoples problem with it is that you can't see the radiation so you don't have a clear means to tell if you are being exposed to it or if your government is lying about it. If that had happened here I would assume the government would lie about it, minimize it or cover it up.
 
papajohn56 said:
If every single plant in Japan melted down, with huge radiation leaks, it'd be a massive problem. This won't happen. Right now it's 1 plant that's a problem, 3 reactors I believe. Under control? No idea, there's some trouble, and over time the fuel rods will cool. The main thing is making sure the containment vessels stay in tact, as well as the spent fuel pools.

It won't be another Chernobyl - reactor design and how this works prohibits that from really happening.
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But what if it all happened I mean demonstrate what would happen
 
people really seem to be panicking too much. when there's a big radiation disaster, then it might be time to panic, but that hasn't happened yet. nuclear is really the only viable alternative to oil. the cost/benefit ratio of wind/solar is just too high in comparison. this situation could have been resolved by now had someone built a nuclear-powered, sea-based water cannon/pump.

56 people died from the chernobyl disaster and about 4,000 got cancer. chernobyl is about the same distance from kiev as the reactors are from tokyo. considering that, and the fact the jet stream is carrying the radiation to the east, i think fears of thousands of deaths are overblown. i would actually be more worried if i was in california than if i was in japan right now (but there won't be thousands of deaths or immediate cancers there either).

http://derstandard.at/1297820491194/Animation-Moeglicher-Verlauf-der-Strahlungswolken
 
From what I understand, the problem with nuclear power isn't the plants themselves - but the waste.

I'd be fine with nuclear power if we had a better way to store it - I remember reading awhile back that the swiss were drilling into the side of a huge mountain to store some but it sounded extremely expensive.

I wouldn't mind seeing nuclear power being used as a stop gap until we can get green alternatives to be more efficient than they are currently - but I don't think it solves our energy issues.
 
tencentpiece said:
From what I understand, the problem with nuclear power isn't the plants themselves - but the waste.

I'd be fine with nuclear power if we had a better way to store it - I remember reading awhile back that the swiss were drilling into the side of a huge mountain to store some but it sounded extremely expensive.

I wouldn't mind seeing nuclear power being used as a stop gap until we can get green alternatives to be more efficient than they are currently - but I don't think it solves our energy issues.
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How about instead of storing it, we use it for fuel and completely use it up?

Look at the new TWR (Travelling Wave Reactors) like the ones already under construction by Terrapower Inc. They are one company that is doing it now, others are still in fundraising stages. -Bill gates plopped down $10 Mill to terrapower and others are donating to the company too.

Outside of TWRs, Thorium holds great promise because the element itself isn't so radioactive, and therefore the waste isn't so dangerous. (Not to mention there will likely be a TWR for thorium too one day, meaning no waste at all too.) The only reason the US Government chose Uranium over Thorium to make plants for a half century ago is because the facilities used to refine either would be expensive, but choosing Uranium allows for Bombs, too.

There have been working prototypes of both Thorium and TWR reactors. This tech is sitting on the shelf getting older right now... Only politics & lobby money will allow them off the shelf and into a energy company near you.
 
Well this thread really took off...




papajohn56 said:
There has never been a nuclear incident in the US that has caused health problems too. Which plant are you near? Even if it does become a problem, all residents within the 10 miles range are required to have access to Potassium Iodide for free just in case.
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Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This one, and I don't really feel the Potassium Iodide would do anything...I'd just hop on the boat and go out to sea...
 
as far as nuclear waste and containment, there's always a solution. we just haven't devoted enough time and resources toward research. to give up now and fall back on oil (and inefficient resources like wind and solar) would just be devolving. what happens when our sun begins to burn out and we haven't harnessed nuclear energy? solar and wind won't save us then. harnessing nuclear energy will allow us to get off this planet.
 
DewChugr said:
That's actually pretty cool.

Question: Based on the information today and the US recommendation of clearing out 50 mile radius is the Japanese government lying?

They had one scientist on that says this is well beyond Chernobyl, thoughts?

I think part of peoples problem with it is that you can't see the radiation so you don't have a clear means to tell if you are being exposed to it or if your government is lying about it. If that had happened here I would assume the government would lie about it, minimize it or cover it up.
Click to expand...

US recommended americans in Japan clear out a 50 mile radius because that's what our protocol would be.

I don't think this really compares to Chernobyl. Something similar to Chernobyl COULD happen with the spent fuel rod pools, but it wouldn't be on the same scale of Chernobyl at all.

The head of NRC said the spent fuel rods were exposed in #4 pool (not reactor) several hours ago. They had helicopters dump water all over but a pilot was able to confirm that there was water in the pool a little while ago. They will hopefully be able to restore power in a few hours and see if the cooling equipment is working.

Economist has some good articles about what's actually going on:
Japan's stricken nuclear plant: Watching the smoke | The Economist

The post-earthquake nuclear crisis: The Japan syndrome | The Economist
 
Nuclear power is safe, but there was nothing EVER wrong with coal. No, the pollution won't melt the icecaps.

Man vs. universe = universe wins.

The fact that a little tiny insignificant human being could look at the world and be like "oh, starting up my SUV could fuck all this up" is complete horseshit.
 
vashie said:
Nuclear power is safe, but there was nothing EVER wrong with coal. No, the pollution won't melt the icecaps.

Man vs. universe = universe wins.

The fact that a little tiny insignificant human being could look at the world and be like "oh, starting up my SUV could fuck all this up" is complete horseshit.
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I was thinking more like, more people die mining coal, and more radiation gets released due to fly ash each year.
 
Dwight Schrute said:
I was going to mention Yucca Mountain... But since fucktard Obama has de-funded this, what is the solution?
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It was de-funded, because a lot of local people don't want it here. Which is exactly how it should be. If the majority of the people of a state don't want a something placed in their state it shouldn't be placed there.
 
papajohn56 said:
I was thinking more like, more people die mining coal, and more radiation gets released due to fly ash each year.
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At least the guys dying mining coal are getting paid for it.

I suppose I should be more worried than I am, since I live in Hawaii and closer to it than most of you all are. Everyone here is stocking up on kelp lol.
 
here is pretty good explanatioon how its all functioning.
Japan's nuclear concerns explained
I'm always was pro atom, but looking at this stuff i'm not convinced that even steel/concrete containment systems are that safe. Loo they dont eve know why the fuck there were explosions? hydrogen build up because water was not circulating, hydrogen build up because circonium and water got in some kind reaction and so on.
They dont know if containment still intact after explosion and those used fuels rods are stored in the area with no containment i understand... and how many are there?
I'm not convinced anymore it can not be another chernobyl or worse. Fuck I'm from Belarus and was living 300 hundered miles from Chernobyl, now i'm living in SoCal...
 
oknetwork said:
here is pretty good explanatioon how its all functioning.
Japan's nuclear concerns explained
I'm always was pro atom, but looking at this stuff i'm not convinced that even steel/concrete containment systems are that safe. Loo they dont eve know why the fuck there were explosions? hydrogen build up because water was not circulating, hydrogen build up because circonium and water got in some kind reaction and so on.
They dont know if containment still intact after explosion and those used fuels rods are stored in the area with no containment i understand... and how many are there?
I'm not convinced anymore it can not be another chernobyl or worse. Fuck I'm from Belarus and was living 300 hundered miles from Chernobyl, now i'm living in SoCal...
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Shit man, didn't like 60% of the fallout land right there?

The funny think about Chernobyl is that people don't ever talk about despite the meltdown with reactors 3 and 4, the plant continued to operate and provide power up until year 2000.
 
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