billvon said:
Agreed. One major incident every 100 years could be horrendous and could kill thousands. Compare that to 7500 deaths every YEAR in the US due to coal, and ~200 deaths a year due to natural gas (explosions, pollution.) Here are the worldwide mortality rates for each form of power per pwhr:
Countries or regions have to decide for themselves.
People want to tell me how expensive it is to build 80% solar+ wind and 20% gas peakers. I say this is quite cheap, cheaper than nuclear power plants.
On the other Hand I visited Chernobyl some years ago when the finished containment #2. I walked through Chernobyl and Prybjat for some days and I have seen the economic effects over there.
A accident like that with Germany would destroy trillions of Euro, not even counting the psychological effects.
Japanese was Ultra lucky that the wind was blowing in the right direction after the Fuskushima explosions. They have been also super lucky that the shut down reactor 4 didn't expsose its hot rods to the Environment. Still Fukushima is super expensive for Japan, much more expensive than everything Germ,any has paied for solar and wind, but Fukushima + a wind blowing the rediocative stuff to the Tokio Region would have more or less "destroyed" the Country / Society.
Obviously it an avacuation of the Tokio region is simply impossible, so People would have been told to live their at higher radioactivity.
If it is my decission if I prefer the risc to live in an unhealthy environment with significantly higher risc to get cancer or if I prefer to pay 10ct/kWh extra for living in a healthy enivorment I prefer the higher electricity price any day. You get the bonus that you leave the planet in a more or less healthy state.
I do not like it when People are camping and after that you have cut down trees, destroyed vegetation, litter and some toxic waste like your old Motor oil hidden in the soil. Because of the same reason I don't want to go leaving a planet with destroyed ecosystems, heatet and with toxic wastes burried everywhere. Radioactive wastelands like Chernobyl are alsonot something I(!) would prefer...
If you decide otherwise, fine for you.
Thankfully we are not neighbours, so our opinions can both survive in our daily life. If a nuclear power plant explodes in China or US it doesn't harm me. Your decission.
If a nuclear reactor explodes in France and the wind brings the radioactive shit to us I expect the French to pay for that and this could become an ultra expensive bill.