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

Martin 53N 1W wrote: 
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);

Yes but it was a known risk. That is why there was a law against people living close to it. The local government never enforced the law.

Amoco Cadiz (oil spill due to drunkenness);
Various many other oil spils;

Of course oil spills are just a category of shipwrecks. Granted they screw up the shoreline and people get weepy-eye over oily ducks but hardly are in the category of the Titanic.

Global Warming (fossil fuel industries, entire species already wiped out, Man threatened next).

That is almost all from the scare tactics of people claiming to be scientists. The world has been both warmer and colder and life is still infesting this planet. Species have been dying out since the end of the last ice age. The debate is still going on over human causation of some of it.

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.

Deaths from faulty heating systems are quite common. Fire itself is a dangerous technology. If natural gas were "discovered" tomorrow it would be too unsafe to use. If people could have foreseen the dangers of indoor plumbing do you think they have bathrooms?

It is a perception of risk and a tradeoff between risks. There are hugely fewer deaths from bathroom falls than from cholera outbreaks. But way back when cholera would be the devil we know not the fear of the unknown, dangerous bathroom. If radiation is a cause of death then nuclear is hugely safer than coal. We know the pollution from coal is a killer.

However the nuclear issue is framed in Jane Fonda terms, near total ignorance of the subject. It includes appeals not to facts but to the imagination. "Imagine what would happen if ..." without reference to any facts and of course most people imagine a mushroom cloud.

--
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or no reason without public knowledge or accountability.
	-- The Iron Webmaster, 3473
 nizkor http://www.giwersworld.org/nizkook/nizkook.phtml
 Blame Israel http://www.ussliberty.org a10
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