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A comment on The world needs nuclear power and we shouldn’t be afraid of it. Parent comment

Re:The world needs nuclear power and we shouldn’t be afraid ... by jnxx on Saturday October 24, 2020 @10:08AM (#24879308)
> There's no reason to believe that nuclear should be any different. The engineering and physics is well understood.

Well, for one, a rocket launch going wrong can certainly kill people, but it won't make an entire region uninhabitable.

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Re:The world needs nuclear power and we shouldn’t be afraid ... by DrBazza on Saturday October 24, 2020 @10:50AM (#24879537)
Chernobyl is presumably what you're talking about. It was a high pressure steam explosion due a sudden introduction of energy into the system, which of course would cause an explosion and contaminate a wide area [0].

> The engineering and physics is well understood.

as are the safety issues which is why there what research there is for a modern nuclear reactor design would not repeat those mistakes (e.g. molten-salt).

Whether the region around Chernobyl is uninhabitable is debatable, given that animals have returned to it in abundance.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RBMK

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