Re: OT: go nuclear. Was: Detecting ETI via CO2

Matt Giwer wrote: 
I.M. Phedup wrote:

Concerning nuclear power:

I recently spent a week with some people (mostly kids) from the part of
Belarus which was contaminated by the Chernobyl meltdown. I heard a lot of
what they have to deal with. Without a doubt, nuclear power is not worth
the possible consequences.

I know of no one suggesting building graphite moderated reactors without containment vessels so the issue of Chernobyl is inapplicable. Of course criminal stupidity is always a possibility.

It always helps to know the subject before talking about it. 
[...]

That disaster was not only due to a shoddy design and unsafe build. Far worse was how one of the reactors was operated way outside normal AND the cooling was turned off. The explosion was due to a build up of STEAM. Unfortunately, the steam explosion blew open the reactor building...

As with most 'accidents', all very stupid.


But then, we've had huge disasters with other big industries:

Bhopal (chemical explosion, due to bad practice and no maintenance);
Amoco Cadiz (oil spill due to drunkenness);
Various many other oil spils;
Global Warming (fossil fuel industries, entire species already wiped out, Man threatened next).


One view for "disaster or not" is to look at what the 'complacency' level is... At least for anything 'nuclear', everything is very carefully scrutinised. Much more so than for other industries that can be even more deadly.


Regards,
Martin

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