Quote:
Originally Posted by astroron
Carl Tell that to the people of Japan who are sitting on a possible time bomb
and also to all the dead and deformed people from the effects pf Chernoble
Safe if you believe that Accidents  don"t happen 
A Nuclear power plant would cost in the region of a couple of billion dollars and take at least 5-10 years to build , and the big stumbling block Not in my backyard
Nuclear Power IS NOT SAFE  Ask those Japanese people who have been told to move 80kms away from the site of the power station |
Ron, please...2 extreme cases in an industry whose safety record far exceeds any other power generating industry and a lot of others as well. That's not to say it doesn't have problems, but you have to be pragmatic and realistic about what you say and not go down some emotive line when you look into something like this. If they never had the quake or tsunami, those reactors would be blithely putting out electricity and you'd have never heard hide nor hair of them. Any powerplant has accidents, nuclear included, but which power industry has had the worst accidents and the greatest number of deaths and serious health concerns over the years....I think you'll find it's conventional plants.
How much do you think a coal fired or gas fired powerplant costs to build and how long it takes to build one...it's just as long as a nuclear plant. How safe do you think they really are...and if you don't think there's any radioactivity, think again. One of the dangers of coal fired plants is the radon gas that is present in coal. But apart from that you have all the other problems associated with them, as is well known.
In any case, the problem in Japan is nothing like Chernobyl, not even close. The reactors are a different type and far more modern. Chernobyl was a disaster waiting to happen, plus a case of incompetency on the part of the operators. Japan is a case of being in the wrong place and not being strong enough to withstand a quake of this size. But then again how many structures would be.