Nuclear Power Plants

There is no such thing as a safe nuclear power plant in my opinion, the disaster in Chernobyl and the Three Mile Island incident should have proved that. Now, the problems Japan is having with their nuclear power plant, which we all hope and pray dosen't turn into another Chernobyl.

If something positive were to come from this current nuclear power plant crisis in Japan it should be that the World finally makes a serious effort to get rid of ALL it's nuclear power plants and invest it's resources into alternative power sources, instead of trying to make nuclear power safe.

 

nuclear power is still the way to go

 

I'm not a fan either but I've heard they're saver when they aren't built on tectonic fault lines.

 

I see the purpose of nuclear power plants, however, I feel that with technology being as advanced as it is, they'd have something less hazardous for means of power now...not saying they are hazardous, but the stuff going on in Japan could really be anywhere on different scales and look at how much danger people are in over there.

 

I want to announce that I have no insecurity about declaring my ignorance on the subject.

As long as I don't have to write letters by an oil-lamp, I'm happy.
But if they can do it safer and just as efficiently, that'd certainly be cool.

 

I was offered a nuclear energy job when I left the army the first time..

I preferred to be a maintenance supervisor at a correction facility instead.. It was safer..

 

I'm with you...I'm rather ignorant on the subject but from the research I did do (which isn't much), I'd be all for a safer form of power

 

nuclear is the cheapest option at the moment

which just shows how fucking stupid us humans are :mickey:

 

But I bet if a couple of weeks ago you'd asked the guys running the Japanese reactor - "But what if there's an earthquake or something ?", they'd have been able to produce reams of infomation proving just how safe they were and how something like that just couldn't happen.

The problem will always be that until it - whatever it happens to be - actually happens, you've no way of really knowing how things will pan out.

I couldn't help thinking that considering what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you might have expected Japan to have more reservations about nuclear power.



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I believe that when nuclear power stations were first mooted for Britain, one of the selling points was that electricity would be so cheap that it would hardly be worth metering it.

My recent electric bill says otherwise ! What happened ?


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they trying to raise the £50 billion it'll cost to decommision sellafield... and liability insurance for a nuclear powerstation is something like £4billion i think


oh, and thatcher closed their opposition

 

Extra precautions = more money = less profits for the shareholders.

In a capitalist world, I guess that's why we get what we got.




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Those who are pro nuclear power often argue that it's the cheapest power source, but they neglect to include the amount of money spent to "dispose"(they really just store it) of nuclear waste. Also they don't include the cost of cleaning up the toxic waste when it's spilled or seeps into the ground water. Most importantly they don't include the cost of the irreparable damage done to the environment after the spill.

 

This and that '04 earthquake/tsunami were the strongest in 50 years. The plants were built to be earthquake resistant, the scale of this earthquake is unrivaled.

A Chernobyl indecent won't happen, because the plants were designed safetly enough. A coal plant would be destroyed under the circumstances, and coal releases radioactive byproducts into the atmosphere, and so do oil/gas plants. None of which nuclear plants do.

Solar's too cost prohibitive, (I've built a solar house before) and wind only works in certain areas and both require large expensive lead acid batteries and inverters which have to be replaced every few years. Waste.

Nuclear's the way to go. Remember the BP spill? Now that was an ecological catastrophe.

I'm looking forward to fusion. :sunny:

 

Yes, the BP spill was an ecological catastrophe, but the damage caused by it won't make the area toxic or unlivable for thousands of years. I agree that solar, wind, and fossil fuels aren't ideal, but I think they are better/safer options then nuclear energy.

I disagree with you though, about how safe the nuclear plants are. If they were designed safe enough, then there wouldn't be any issue with the plant in Japan now. If an oil, gas or coal plant were destroyed, yes it would be a real mess, but no where near the scale of a nuclear meltdown.

 

Nuclear power is preferable to most other energy sources.

The incident rate is extremely low and the waste is handled with more caution and respect than other by product of energy.

The problems of the past have been with reactors that were not maintained and needed upgrading. Most of those have either been put out of commission or have been upgraded.

I trust in nuclear power. Spent 25 years hearing about it and seeing the design and implementation of safety standards. In that I trust.

 

you wouldnt walk across the Sahara desert in the nude, just cause One person made it with just a minor sun tan..

 

Maybe not but if over 400 were walking with me, I just might.

 

I have a pretty good understanding of atomic energy.. I believe its outdated with advances in solar arrays that boil water for generators. They are as efficient as nuclear without the side effect of catastrophic failure that effect's the entire globe....

 

Nuclear energy needs to be looked as something we must move on from. As efficient as it is in todays world, and how many countries rely so heavily on it, we need to work towards getting away. A serious question that I think everyone should ask themselves is if its still worth it when one of those things blows. We all know it can globally fuck us over.

We need everyone to focus our energy to wind, the sun, and ocean current power. The basic technology is already here. That does not mean it can't be harvested at such levels that nuclear does. We have proven over time if we put our mind to something we can change. We just need global focus from powerful people. We'll see what happens.