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ad-miral
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 1488
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 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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| I think nuclear energy has a very well-deserved bad reputation! |
China set up a lot lot of nuclear power plants. What do you think about it? To my opinion they are doing suicide
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If I say "I love you" to someone, then I also have to say "I also love everyone else inside you, I love the whole world because of you, I also love myself inside you." -- Erich Fromm, the Art of Love |
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pugachevV
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 2295
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| Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:45 am Post subject: |
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| They're killing themselves with smog from burning coal at the moment, so I guess nuclear is cleaner as long as they don't do a Chernobyl with it. |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:16 am Post subject: |
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| redset wrote: |
| Why do you think it deserves its bad reputation exactly? |
In a word: Chernobyl. How about three words: Three Mile Island.
Nuclear power is the cleanest power capable of supplying our modern world's growing energy demands. But ultimately, the problem with nuclear power is the same problem with government, religion, the educational system, and your neighborhood quickie mart: they are all run by mere humans. And humans make mistakes and have accidents. A coal energy accident means that a cave-in has killed 20 coal miners. A nuclear energy accicent means that up to 2000 people get cancer and an area the size of a small country is permanently poisoned.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of nuclear power (or any energy source that decreases my country's dependence on imported fuels). But it is a calculated risk.
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redset
Joined: 18 Mar 2006
Posts: 582
Location: England
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| Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:47 am Post subject: |
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| Bob S. wrote: |
| redset wrote: |
| Why do you think it deserves its bad reputation exactly? |
In a word: Chernobyl. How about three words: Three Mile Island.
Nuclear power is the cleanest power capable of supplying our modern world's growing energy demands. But ultimately, the problem with nuclear power is the same problem with government, religion, the educational system, and your neighborhood quickie mart: they are all run by mere humans. And humans make mistakes and have accidents. A coal energy accident means that a cave-in has killed 20 coal miners. A nuclear energy accicent means that up to 2000 people get cancer and an area the size of a small country is permanently poisoned.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of nuclear power (or any energy source that decreases my country's dependence on imported fuels). But it is a calculated risk. |
I read the wiki page on Chernobyl a while ago, and I'd really recommend it to anyone - it's fascinating to read how the whole catastrophe unfolded, and how quickly it all occurred. It was a terrible accident... well actually accident is completely the wrong word, since the operators intentionally disabled the safety system that would have prevented the experiment from going so wrong. Three Mile Island was luckily contained, although people's fears are completely understandable. These are old reactors though, early designs, and although we need to be really, really careful with nuclear technology we also have to be objective. Coal is a massive pollutant which is already poisoning the environment and spreading disease, and in the infancy of coal power these effects were even more extreme.
Personally I'd prefer it if we could use clean, renewable fuels to provide all our energy - but sadly that's just not feasible with our current technology, and time is running out. Nuclear power can provide a relatively clean and abundant supply of energy, and as the technology matures it will become even safer and less damaging to the environment. What the technology needs is support for research and development, and that requires open, honest and objective debate about the pros and cons, the benefits and risks of nuclear power. |
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