Re:How fear of nuclear power is hurting the environment
by _ph_ on Monday October 17, 2016 @10:37AM
(#12725370)
As a consequence of the Chernobyl incident, parts of western Europe are still contaminated. For example, it is still not entirely safe to eat mushrooms or wild boar from Bavaria. And that is not going to change in my life time. About a 1000km away from Chernobyl. I am a physicist and certainly do not have irrational fears of nuclear energy. But the risks and uses of nuclear have to be carefully considered. Looking at the prices paid for modern reactors being built right now, they seem to be quite more expensive than wind and solar installations.
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Re:How fear of nuclear power is hurting the environment
by hiddenkrypt on Monday October 17, 2016 @01:26PM
(#12727108)
As a consequence of the Centralia incident[1], a portion of Pennsylvania, USA has been rendered practically uninhabitable since 1963. The fire may continue burning for up to two hundred and fifty years. It is not the only persistent coal mine fire in that state, let alone worldwide.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire
I do not mean to diminish the tragedy of the Chernobyl incident or the dangers of nuclear accidents, but to provide context. Even ignoring the energy balance which show nuclear as being safer per KWH than any other tech (including wind and solar), even including the disasters of fukushima and chernobyl, Nuclear has been safer and less damaging to the environment than coal.
Wind and solar are great, I'd love to see more use and developments there. They can't compete with the energy density of coal, let alone atomics.