German solar and wind are triple the cost of French nuclear, last half as long

Re:German solar and wind are triple the cost of French nucle... by hinkley on Saturday November 09, 2019 @06:26PM (#21495242)

Isn't cesium contamination the reason why the descendants of the Bikini Islanders still can't move back to their ancestral home? Same group as potassium so it gets sucked up into fruiting bodies (eg coconuts)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German solar and wind are triple the cost of French nucle... by littlestymaar on Saturday November 09, 2019 @06:42PM (#21495326)

Cs137 is a real problem, it's radioactive enough and at the same time it has a long half-life for this kind of product. And as you say, it's metabolized so it can spread through the food chain…

Fortunately, it's a fission product so it's only released when you melt your reactor or when your reactor is in fact a bomb… (Mandatory reference to the Silly Asses short story from Isaac Asimov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_Asses).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German solar and wind are triple the cost of French nucle... by hinkley on Sunday November 10, 2019 @03:50AM (#21497148)

Then why is it listed in the grandparent as a product?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:German solar and wind are triple the cost of French nucle... by littlestymaar on Sunday November 10, 2019 @04:54AM (#21497304)

Because the GP took a list that mixes both fission products and activation product.

Fission products are directly created when splitting an uranium nucleus in half. They stay in the fuel rod unless it's damaged in a catastrophe. With a bomb you don't have rods, so everything is just released in the air.

[ Parent | on HN ]