Merged nuclear power safe?

[bikerdruid]

I get the impression BD is out in the boonies and may feel he'd like to stay that way, with or without power- and I can understand that , too.

i live simply, with solar power, wood heat and cooking and haven't had running water for many years.
the best my water can do is walk from the spring to the house, in a bucket, at the end of my arm.

 

[DGM]

i live simply, with solar power, wood heat and cooking and haven't had running water for many years.
the best my water can do is walk from the spring to the house, in a bucket, at the end of my arm.

I bet your ISP is "green" too.

 

[lionking]

to think otherwise is prideful.

"Prideful"? Are you Amish as well as a Druid (and Luddite)? Personally, I'm proud of human achievement and technological advancement. Making the most of the opportunities provided by man's ingenuity beats hiding in the forest waiting for Armageddon.

 

[Nosi]

Deaths per TWh for all energy sources: Rooftop solar power is actually more dangerous than Chernobyl

That's a little mind blower. Need to go collect the brain cells...

 

[Nosi]

1/5th of all reactors are in earthquake zones. Fear-mongering has set us back decades. I find it bizarre that a tsunami has killed thousands, may be tens of thousands and people are concerned about nuclear power.

You only need to look at Grade B Sci Fi to see why people are loosing their brown over the reactors. How many mutant monsters have been spawned by the wonder of the Atom gone wrong?

 

[BenBurch]

I'm never sure what statements like this mean.

We are a 100% natural species. We're not a problem, or a disease the Earth has somehow picked up. We're as much part of the planet as oceans or rocks or deserts.

OK, we use the Earth's resources. Yes we alter the face of the planet. But so do locust swarms. So do elephant herds. So does the weather. And seismic activity.

The argument seems to be that by having an impact on the planet, we're irreparably destroying it. Well apart from scale, it's no different than me 'irreparably destroying' my garden by getting out there with a spade.

On the whole I like what we've done to the planet. I suspect we've made a better job of it than, say, cats would have, if they'd developed opposable thumbs instead.

What I meant by the quote this was replying to, BTW, is that since raccoons seem to be a candidate for evolving into sentient species, once we have condemned ourselves due to stupidity, they will likely do a better job than we have.

 

[BenBurch]

I'd welcome a nuclear plant within twenty miles of me.

Hell, build one in the next block. I'll stay right here.

 

[bikerdruid]

"Prideful"? Are you Amish as well as a Druid (and Luddite)? Personally, I'm proud of human achievement and technological advancement. Making the most of the opportunities provided by man's ingenuity beats hiding in the forest waiting for Armageddon.

i was going to say anthropocentric, but thought prideful did the better job.
i am not amish, but i admire them.

 

[gumboot]

Fear-mongering has set us back decades. I find it bizarre that a tsunami has killed thousands, may be tens of thousands and people are concerned about nuclear power.

Some of the reporting has been outright disgusting. Our media initially reported a meltdown at the nuclear powerplant would "wipe Japan off the map". This morning the headline ran "More than 10,000 feared dead as nuclear meltdown looms".

That's just blatant disregard for reality. A deliberate attempt to link Tsunami deaths with the nuclear power situation.

Our media repeats the "above safe levels", "1000x normal" etc. for radiation in virtually every article, but never once have I seen them actually make reference to what those levels are and how they compare with, say, background levels. The reality is a little digging indicates the levels, even at the alarming "1000x normal" are well, well below dangerous levels, even with prolonged exposure.

 

[bikerdruid]

I bet your ISP is "green" too.

my only connection to the outside, other than the road, is an underground telephone cable which provides me with a verrrry slow dialup.
i dunno...is that green?

 

[Soapy Sam]

i live simply, with solar power, wood heat and cooking and haven't had running water for many years.
the best my water can do is walk from the spring to the house, in a bucket, at the end of my arm.

It sounds like my idea of heaven , BD, but like I said, the numbers are against us. If all Americans lived as you do, how much forest would they burn each year? How much CO2 is that? There's a downside to every lifestyle.

Where did the energy to make your solar panels come from? I'm sure you have considered all this and I'm sure you don't think everyone could live as you are managing to do. Right now in Japan, people are going to suffer and die , not because of radiation, but because there is not enough electricity to keep them warm, to get them the drugs , food and clean water they need.

There are two answers to our energy problems- more efficient supply, or less energy demand per person. We need both.

 

[gumboot]

Hydro requires having a nearby natural waterfall big enough and has a major environmental impact.

Actually hydropower is normally achieved by building a hydrodam which, aside from destroying the entire river ecosystem, poses a far, far greater risk than a nuclear meltdown in the event of a severe earthquake.

 

[bikerdruid]

It sounds like my idea of heaven , BD, but like I said, the numbers are against us. If all Americans lived as you do, how much forest would they burn each year? How much CO2 is that? There's a downside to every lifestyle.

Where did the energy to make your solar panels come from? I'm sure you have considered all this and I'm sure you don't think everyone could live as you are managing to do. Right now in Japan, people are going to suffer and die , not because of radiation, but because there is not enough electricity to keep them warm, to get them the drugs , food and clean water they need.

There are two answers to our energy problems- more efficient supply, or less energy demand per person. We need both.

fair enough.

 

[DGM]

my only connection to the outside, other than the road, is an underground telephone cable which provides me with a verrrry slow dialup.
i dunno...is that green?

The link from your home to this page makes a lot of stops. All powered by something.

 

[Ziggurat]

i'm almost 60, so i might not be first, but i will be sooner than most.

So you're not really serious, then. Quelle suprise.

i have no misconception that, as a species, we are any more valuable than the passenger pigeon or the dodo bird.
to think otherwise is prideful.

Valuable to whom? The human race is a hell of a lot more valuable to me than the dodo bird is. The dodo is more valuable to the dodo than humans are. There's no pride or misconception involved.

 

[bikerdruid]

The link from your home to this page makes a lot of stops. All powered by something.

true.
in alberta, too much of that is coal.
southern alberta has incredible wind potential, for example.
we have greater potential for hydro than we use.
even using natural gas would be cleaner than coal....and we have a lot of gas.
there are alternatives that do no need to include nuclear.

 

[Nosi]

The dark would rank as positively hazardous.

Not the dark. But things hide in the dark...to catch your toes and bump knees and shins into.

 

[bikerdruid]

So you're not really serious, then. Quelle suprise.

oh but i am....very serious.

Valuable to whom? The human race is a hell of a lot more valuable to me than the dodo bird is. The dodo is more valuable to the dodo than humans are. There's no pride or misconception involved.

valuable to the biosphere that nurtures us.
we continue to soil our own beds.

 

[Nosi]

I watched a TV program called the Politics Show on the BBC this lunchtime. The presenter posed the question what detrimental effect the events in Japan would have on the UK's plans to build several new nuclear power stations in the next decade(s).

My flippant (and obviously unheard) shouts at the screen were 'when did the UK become as seismically active as Japan', and 'why would we, in the C21st want to build Japanese/US designs from the 1960s/70s'?

As shaky as Japan? No. But you Brits are on sea level, and the sea is expected to rise.

 

[DGM]

true.
in alberta, too much of that is coal.
southern alberta has incredible wind potential, for example.
we have greater potential for hydro than we use.
even using natural gas would be cleaner than coal....and we have a lot of gas.
there are alternatives that do no need to include nuclear.

Wind is intrusive on the land and not very cost effective. Should I post pictures from last years gas explosion in CA? I suspect most of those fires you saw after the earthquake were fuel (or started) by natural gas. I used to think nukes were bad, until I learned the truth.

BTW: I live not far from one.