Nuclear safety
Mar. 30th, 2006 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eBeing a heavy reader of science information I hear all kinds of reassurances about the nuclear option... well, not so much from scientists as from politicians and businessmen who see big dollar signs. Scientists often argue the side of caution in regards to nuclear power, though some are fairly gung-ho about taking it up.
• Nuclear power has been used for years, for instance in France, with a very good safety record.
Well, yes, but the problem is not so much that the plants are operated safely or not. It is that just one serious accident is a major disaster for the next several billion years. All you need is one. Contrast that with accidents in solar power or wind power or tidal power or ethanol production or hydrogen or geothermal energy. These are mostly inconsequential accidents which have repercussions that extend for only the lives of the individuals impacted directly.
• Nuclear reactors can be hardened against things like planes being flown into them.
Before it happened a plane being flown into a building was unthinkable. What about another unthinkable event like a stolen tank with armor-piercing shells (ironically, depelted uranium created in a nuclear reactor) being used to penetrate a reactor containment vessel? What about an explosive charge then distributing the contents over a wide area? As our technological prowess grows, individuals are becoming more powerful, with greater potential for harm being wrought by miscreants. Instead of making centralised, easy tagets for them we should be taking lessons from the internet which was designed in such a way that it could survive any disaster -- it doesn't have any central point to attack. It is plain stupid to make our power generation systems in the most insecure way possible.
• We need high capacity power generation to replace oil and coal.
There have been many examples of how we can reduce our profligate use of power through greater efficiency and maintain or increase our standard of living. We waste most of our energy -- we actually use very little of what we generate. We should be treading more carefully, not only because it will save us money and energy, but because as the third world comes online it will want the same as we have. If we still have wasteful, dangerous power then chances are that is what they will opt for and buy from us (heaven help the planet). If we have gone for clean, reusable, and energy efficient solutions then that is what they will want and will buy from us.
• Nuclear power has been used for years, for instance in France, with a very good safety record.
Well, yes, but the problem is not so much that the plants are operated safely or not. It is that just one serious accident is a major disaster for the next several billion years. All you need is one. Contrast that with accidents in solar power or wind power or tidal power or ethanol production or hydrogen or geothermal energy. These are mostly inconsequential accidents which have repercussions that extend for only the lives of the individuals impacted directly.
• Nuclear reactors can be hardened against things like planes being flown into them.
Before it happened a plane being flown into a building was unthinkable. What about another unthinkable event like a stolen tank with armor-piercing shells (ironically, depelted uranium created in a nuclear reactor) being used to penetrate a reactor containment vessel? What about an explosive charge then distributing the contents over a wide area? As our technological prowess grows, individuals are becoming more powerful, with greater potential for harm being wrought by miscreants. Instead of making centralised, easy tagets for them we should be taking lessons from the internet which was designed in such a way that it could survive any disaster -- it doesn't have any central point to attack. It is plain stupid to make our power generation systems in the most insecure way possible.
• We need high capacity power generation to replace oil and coal.
There have been many examples of how we can reduce our profligate use of power through greater efficiency and maintain or increase our standard of living. We waste most of our energy -- we actually use very little of what we generate. We should be treading more carefully, not only because it will save us money and energy, but because as the third world comes online it will want the same as we have. If we still have wasteful, dangerous power then chances are that is what they will opt for and buy from us (heaven help the planet). If we have gone for clean, reusable, and energy efficient solutions then that is what they will want and will buy from us.