Chernobyl.

[von_Bismarck]

But, but, but...nuclear energy!
A lot of fans on here, check out the climate change thread. Even some decrying it in this thread while hypocritically supporting it in others. *snickers*
And I'm the idiot? Where are the nuclear energy supporters now? Bunch of fucking goofs.

Indeed! Nuclear energy probably isn't as safe as proponents claim. I won't claim the source is unbiased, but the numbers are straightforward:

There is another way to look at these figures. If the core damage frequency is one in 10,000, that means that for a reactor with a 40-year life span, the likelihood of the reactor melting down during its lifetime is forty in 10,000, one in 250, or 0.4%. If the reactor is designed to a core damage frequency of one in 20,000, then the likelihood of meltdown over its lifetime is one in 500, or 0.2%.

These numbers do not reflect what has happened in the real world. Having gone through 17,000 reactor years at civil reactors, we have experienced three meltdowns in Japan, all at Fukushima Daiichi; at least one meltdown in the Soviet Union, at Chernobyl (though given the Soviet inclination to cover things up, there might have been others); one in Scotland, at Chapelcross; two in France, both at Saint-Laurent, but on different occasions; one in Czechoslovakia, at Jaslovské Bohunice; and three meltdowns in the United States, one each at Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania), Fermi (Michigan), and SRE (California).

In other words, instead of the projected number of CDEs, which we might have expected to be one or fewer, there were at least eleven in the real world. Instead of having a frequency of one in 20,000 reactor years, or more, or even of one in 10,000 for the oldest plants in the world, the number was about one in 1,550. And we can calculate that the likelihood of a CDE in the lifetime of a given plant is certainly not 0.2% or even 0.4%. In the real world, it has proven to be about 2% for the time the reactors have served, which is, on average, about three-quarters of their service lives. To calculate for the full service life, divide that figure by three-quarters, and you get 2.66%. So based on experience, the likelihood that any randomly chosen nuclear plant will have melted down when its time is up is 2.66%, or one in about 37.6.

https://cleantechnica.com/2019/05/13/nuclear-power-is-not-safe/

Queef is devastated.

 

[RocketLauncher]

The main problem is aging infrastructure.

Nuclear reactor accidents in the U.S.[3][20]
Date Location Description Fatalities Cost
(in millions
2006 US$) INES
rating
November 29, 1955 Idaho Falls, Idaho, US Power excursion with partial core meltdown at National Reactor Testing Station's EBR-1 Experimental Breeder Reactor I 0 5
July 26, 1959 Simi Valley, California, USA Partial core meltdown at Santa Susana Field Laboratory's Sodium Reactor Experiment 0 32
January 3, 1961 Idaho Falls, Idaho, US Explosion with three fatalities at National Reactor Testing Station's SL-1 Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One 3 22
July 24, 1964 Charlestown, Rhode Island, USA An error by a worker at a United Nuclear Corporation fuel facility led to an accidental criticality 1 ??
October 5, 1966 Monroe, Michigan, USA Sodium cooling system malfunctions at Enrico Fermi demonstration breeder reactor causing partial core meltdown 0 19
July 16, 1971 Cordova, Illinois, USA An electrician is electrocuted by a live cable at the Quad Cities Unit 1 reactor on the Mississippi River 1 1
August 11, 1973 Covert Township, Michigan, USA Steam generator leak at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station causes manual shutdown of pressurized water reactor 0 10
March 22, 1975 Athens, Alabama, USA Fire burns for seven hours and damages more than 1600 control cables for three nuclear reactors at Browns Ferry, disabling core cooling systems 0 240
November 5, 1975 Brownville, Nebraska, USA Hydrogen gas explosion damages the Cooper Nuclear Facility's auxiliary building 0 13
June 10, 1977 Waterford, Connecticut, USA Hydrogen gas explosion damages three buildings and forces shutdown of Millstone-1 Boiling Water Reactor 0 15
February 4, 1979 Surry, Virginia, USA Surry Unit 2 shut down in response to failing tube bundles in steam generators 0 12
March 28, 1979 Middletown, Pennsylvania, US Loss of coolant and partial core meltdown, see Three Mile Island accident and Three Mile Island accident health effects 0 2,400 5[21]
November 22, 1980 San Clemente, California, USA Worker cleaning breaker cubicles at San Onofre Pressurized Water Reactor contacts an energized line and is electrocuted 1 1
January 25, 1982 Ontario, New York, USA Ginna Nuclear Generating Station (then operated by Rochester Gas & Electric now by Constellation Energy Nuclear Group) experiences a steam tube rupture, releasing radioactivity into the environment. 0 1
February 26, 1982 San Clemente, California, USA Southern California Company shuts down San Onofre Unit 1 out of concerns about earthquake 0 1
March 20, 1982 Scriba, New York, USA Recirculation system piping fails at Nine Mile Point Unit 1, forcing two year shutdown 0 45
March 25, 1982 Buchanan, New York, USA Damage to steam generator tubes and main generator resulting in a shut down Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 for more than a year 0 56
June 18, 1982 Seneca, South Carolina, USA Feedwater heat extraction line fails at Oconee 2 Pressurised Water Reactor, damaging thermal cooling system 0 10
February 12, 1983 Forked River, New Jersey, USA Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station fails safety inspection, forced to shut down for repairs 0 32
February 26, 1983 Fort Pierce, Florida, USA Damaged thermal shield and core barrel support at St. Lucie Unit 1, necessitating 13-month shutdown 0 54
September 15, 1984 Athens, Alabama, US Safety violations, operator error, and design problems force six year outage at Browns Ferry Unit 2 0 110
March 9, 1985 Athens, Alabama, US Instrumentation systems malfunction during start-up, which led to suspension of operations at all three Browns Ferry Units 0 1,830
June 9, 1985 Oak Harbor, Ohio, US Loss of feedwater event at Davis-Besse reactor after main pumps shut down and auxiliary pumps tripped due to operator error. NRC review determines site area emergency should have been declared 0 ?
April 11, 1986 Plymouth, Massachusetts, US Recurring equipment problems force emergency shutdown of Boston Edison's Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant 0 1,001
December 9, 1986 Surry, Virginia, USA Feedwater line-burst at Surry Nuclear Power Plant kills 4 4
March 31, 1987 Delta, Pennsylvania, US Peach Bottom units 2 and 3 shutdown due to cooling malfunctions and unexplained equipment problems 0 400
July 15, 1987 Burlington, Kansas, USA Safety inspector dies from electrocution after contacting a mislabeled wire at Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station 1 1
December 19, 1987 Scriba, New York, US Malfunctions force Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to shut down Nine Mile Point Unit 1 0 150
March 29, 1988 Burlington, Kansas, USA A worker at the Wolf Creek Generating Station falls through an unmarked manhole and electrocutes himself when trying to escape 1 1
September 10, 1988 Surry, Virginia, USA Refuelling cavity seal fails and destroys internal pipe system at Surry Unit 2, forcing 12-month outage 0 9
March 5, 1989 Tonopah, Arizona, USA Atmospheric dump valves fail at Palo Verde Unit 1, leading to main transformer fire and emergency shutdown 0 14
March 17, 1989 Lusby, Maryland, US Inspections at Calvert Cliff Units 1 and 2 reveal cracks at pressurized heater sleeves, forcing extended shutdowns 0 120
November 17, 1991 Scriba, New York, USA Safety and fire problems force shut down of the FitzPatrick nuclear reactor for 13 months 0 5
April 21, 1992 Southport, North Carolina, USA NRC forces shut down of Brunswick Units 1 and 2 after emergency diesel generators fail 0 2
February 3, 1993 Bay City, Texas, USA Auxiliary feed-water pumps fail at South Texas Project Units 1 and 2, prompting rapid shutdown of both reactors 0 3
February 27, 1993 Buchanan, New York, USA New York Power Authority shuts down Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 after AMSAC system fails 0 2
March 2, 1993 Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, USA Equipment failures and broken pipes cause shut down of Sequoyah Unit 1 0 3
December 25, 1993 Newport, Michigan, USA Shut down of Fermi Unit 2 after main turbine experienced major failure due to improper maintenance 0 67
14 January 1995 Wiscasset, Maine, USA Steam generator tubes unexpectedly crack at Maine Yankee nuclear reactor; shut down of the facility for a year 0 62
May 16, 1995 Salem, New Jersey, USA Ventilation systems fail at Salem Units 1 and 2 0 34
February 20, 1996 Waterford, Connecticut, US Leaking valve forces shutdown Millstone Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2, multiple equipment failures found 0 ?
May 15, 1996 Morris, Illinois, US Plunging water levels around the nuclear fuel in the reactor's core prompt shut down at Dresden Generating Station 0 ?
September 2, 1996 Crystal River, Florida, US Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces shutdown and extensive repairs at Crystal River Unit 3 0 384
September 5, 1996 Clinton, Illinois, USA Reactor recirculation pump fails, prompting shut down of Clinton boiling water reactor 0 38
September 20, 1996 Seneca, Illinois, USA Service water system fails and results in closure of LaSalle Units 1 and 2 for more than 2 years 0 71
September 9, 1997 Bridgman, Michigan, USA Ice condenser containment systems fail at Cook Units 1 and 2 0 11
May 25, 1999 Waterford, Connecticut, USA Steam leak in feed-water heater causes manual shutdown and damage to control board annunicator at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant 0 7
September 29, 1999 Lower Alloways Creek Township, New Jersey, USA Major Freon leak at Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station causes ventilation train chiller to trip, releasing toxic gas and damaging the cooling system 0 2
February 15, 2000 Buchanan, New York, USA NRC Alert issued after steam tube rupture Indian Point Unit 2 [22] 0 2
February 16, 2002 Oak Harbor, Ohio, US Severe boric acid corrosion of reactor head forces 24-month outage of Davis-Besse reactor 0 605[23]
January 15, 2003 Bridgman, Michigan, USA A fault in the main transformer at the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Generating Station causes a fire that damages the main generator and back-up turbines 0 10
June 16, 2005 Braidwood, Illinois, USA Exelon's Braidwood nuclear station leaks tritium and contaminates local water supplies 0 41
August 4, 2005 Buchanan, New York, USA Entergy's Indian Point Nuclear Plant leaks tritium and strontium into underground lakes from 1974 to 2005 30
March 6, 2006 Erwin, Tennessee, USA Nuclear Fuel Services plant spills 35 litres of highly enriched uranium, necessitating 7-month shutdown 0 98
September 2009 Crystal River, Florida, USA When cutting into Crystal River 3 Nuclear Power Plant containment building to create a large opening for the replacement of the Steam generator (nuclear power) the structure was severely cracked resulting in the permanent closure of the facility. 0 1,000+
February 1, 2010 Vernon, Vermont, US Deteriorating underground pipes from the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant leak radioactive tritium into groundwater supplies 0 700
July 15, 2011 Morris, Illinois, US Chemical leak of sodium hypochlorite restricted access to a vital area that houses plant cooling water pumps at Dresden Generating Station 0 ?
January 30, 2012 Byron, Illinois, US Unusual Incident reported at Byron Nuclear Generating Station. Partial loss of offsite power led to a loss of nearly all power and safety functions until operators manually disconnected the grid from the plant. This exposed an electrical design flaw present in nearly every US nuclear reactor. 0 Undetermined
March 31, 2013 Russellville, Arkansas, US One worker was killed and two others injured when part of a generator fell as it was being moved at the Arkansas Nuclear One. 1 ?
July 2016 Bridgman, Michigan, US Heavy steam leak into the turbine building of D.C. Cook Nuclear Station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reactor_accidents_in_the_United_States

 

[Jessie_Pinkman]

New Yorker:
What HBO’s “Chernobyl” Got Right and Terribly Wrong

 

[oralaccents]

Those GE kettle reactors aren't exactly the Cadillacs of nuclear reactors.

It's just a matter of time.

 

[beew]

Remember how Gorbachev, who was complicit in the cover-up and failure to warn Ukraine and the rest of Europe of the spreading radiation

was awarded the Ronald Reagan and all sorts of medals just a few years later?

 

[Scareltt]

I let my husband keep HBO after Game of Thrones.

Chernobyl is the only reason we still have HBO.

It’s very good, very scary, and sad.

That series of scenes where Vasily died. I still can’t get that image out of my head, and I only watched it once.

I’m still going to cancel HBO today, but wow what a great mini series.

 

[Blonde_Shay]

Truly amazing

I bing watched it last weekend, worth a watch

 

[dan_c00000]

Chernobyl is considered a Level 7 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. There's been only one other level 7 disaster: Fukushima, Japan in 2011. Even though they're both level 7s they're not equal: "Fukushima Dai-ichi has released about one-tenth of the amount of radioactive material that escaped Chernobyl".

Three Mile Island, the worse U.S. accident, is rated a level 5.

 

[RocketLauncher]

Those GE kettle reactors aren't exactly the Cadillacs of nuclear reactors.

It's just a matter of time.

Word.

 

[Hal9000_]

Nuclear power is clean and green!

(Except for the nuclear waste, uranium mining, regular releases of tritium, etc.)

Also:

How much power does it take to run a nuclear power plant?

"Typical nuclear power plants achieve efficiencies around 33-37%, comparable to fossil fueled power plants. Higher temperature and more modern designs like the Generation IV nuclear reactors could potentially reach above 45% efficiency."

https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Nuclear_power_plant

 

[DeYaKen]

Interesting. It's the first time that I've heard about the Windscale disaster.
They managed to cover it up probably because technology was less advanced in those days. Radiation from the Chernobyl disaster was picked up by workers at Forsmark, Sweden, who then alerted Europe.

Sorry I got the time wrong it was 1957 but a similar type of reactor. The cover-up was successful because the US, UK and USSR had a program of nuclear bomb testing going on and the government of the day blamed that for the fall out which contaminated livestock and milk with strontium 90 to name but one. I remember newsreel footage of milk being poured down the drain because it was unfit to sell.

You can find out more on wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire

 

[Luk]

"For God's sake, Boris, you were the one who mattered most."

 

[icanhelp1]

The main problem is aging infrastructure.

Nuclear reactor accidents in the U.S.[3][20]
Date Location Description Fatalities Cost
(in millions
2006 US$) INES
rating
November 29, 1955 Idaho Falls, Idaho, US Power excursion with partial core meltdown at National Reactor Testing Station's EBR-1 Experimental Breeder Reactor I 0 5
July 26, 1959 Simi Valley, California, USA Partial core meltdown at Santa Susana Field Laboratory's Sodium Reactor Experiment 0 32
January 3, 1961 Idaho Falls, Idaho, US Explosion with three fatalities at National Reactor Testing Station's SL-1 Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One 3 22
July 24, 1964 Charlestown, Rhode Island, USA An error by a worker at a United Nuclear Corporation fuel facility led to an accidental criticality 1 ??
October 5, 1966 Monroe, Michigan, USA Sodium cooling system malfunctions at Enrico Fermi demonstration breeder reactor causing partial core meltdown 0 19
July 16, 1971 Cordova, Illinois, USA An electrician is electrocuted by a live cable at the Quad Cities Unit 1 reactor on the Mississippi River 1 1
August 11, 1973 Covert Township, Michigan, USA Steam generator leak at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station causes manual shutdown of pressurized water reactor 0 10
March 22, 1975 Athens, Alabama, USA Fire burns for seven hours and damages more than 1600 control cables for three nuclear reactors at Browns Ferry, disabling core cooling systems 0 240
November 5, 1975 Brownville, Nebraska, USA Hydrogen gas explosion damages the Cooper Nuclear Facility's auxiliary building 0 13
June 10, 1977 Waterford, Connecticut, USA Hydrogen gas explosion damages three buildings and forces shutdown of Millstone-1 Boiling Water Reactor 0 15
February 4, 1979 Surry, Virginia, USA Surry Unit 2 shut down in response to failing tube bundles in steam generators 0 12
March 28, 1979 Middletown, Pennsylvania, US Loss of coolant and partial core meltdown, see Three Mile Island accident and Three Mile Island accident health effects 0 2,400 5[21]
November 22, 1980 San Clemente, California, USA Worker cleaning breaker cubicles at San Onofre Pressurized Water Reactor contacts an energized line and is electrocuted 1 1
January 25, 1982 Ontario, New York, USA Ginna Nuclear Generating Station (then operated by Rochester Gas & Electric now by Constellation Energy Nuclear Group) experiences a steam tube rupture, releasing radioactivity into the environment. 0 1
February 26, 1982 San Clemente, California, USA Southern California Company shuts down San Onofre Unit 1 out of concerns about earthquake 0 1
March 20, 1982 Scriba, New York, USA Recirculation system piping fails at Nine Mile Point Unit 1, forcing two year shutdown 0 45
March 25, 1982 Buchanan, New York, USA Damage to steam generator tubes and main generator resulting in a shut down Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 for more than a year 0 56
June 18, 1982 Seneca, South Carolina, USA Feedwater heat extraction line fails at Oconee 2 Pressurised Water Reactor, damaging thermal cooling system 0 10
February 12, 1983 Forked River, New Jersey, USA Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station fails safety inspection, forced to shut down for repairs 0 32
February 26, 1983 Fort Pierce, Florida, USA Damaged thermal shield and core barrel support at St. Lucie Unit 1, necessitating 13-month shutdown 0 54
September 15, 1984 Athens, Alabama, US Safety violations, operator error, and design problems force six year outage at Browns Ferry Unit 2 0 110
March 9, 1985 Athens, Alabama, US Instrumentation systems malfunction during start-up, which led to suspension of operations at all three Browns Ferry Units 0 1,830
June 9, 1985 Oak Harbor, Ohio, US Loss of feedwater event at Davis-Besse reactor after main pumps shut down and auxiliary pumps tripped due to operator error. NRC review determines site area emergency should have been declared 0 ?
April 11, 1986 Plymouth, Massachusetts, US Recurring equipment problems force emergency shutdown of Boston Edison's Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant 0 1,001
December 9, 1986 Surry, Virginia, USA Feedwater line-burst at Surry Nuclear Power Plant kills 4 4
March 31, 1987 Delta, Pennsylvania, US Peach Bottom units 2 and 3 shutdown due to cooling malfunctions and unexplained equipment problems 0 400
July 15, 1987 Burlington, Kansas, USA Safety inspector dies from electrocution after contacting a mislabeled wire at Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station 1 1
December 19, 1987 Scriba, New York, US Malfunctions force Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to shut down Nine Mile Point Unit 1 0 150
March 29, 1988 Burlington, Kansas, USA A worker at the Wolf Creek Generating Station falls through an unmarked manhole and electrocutes himself when trying to escape 1 1
September 10, 1988 Surry, Virginia, USA Refuelling cavity seal fails and destroys internal pipe system at Surry Unit 2, forcing 12-month outage 0 9
March 5, 1989 Tonopah, Arizona, USA Atmospheric dump valves fail at Palo Verde Unit 1, leading to main transformer fire and emergency shutdown 0 14
March 17, 1989 Lusby, Maryland, US Inspections at Calvert Cliff Units 1 and 2 reveal cracks at pressurized heater sleeves, forcing extended shutdowns 0 120
November 17, 1991 Scriba, New York, USA Safety and fire problems force shut down of the FitzPatrick nuclear reactor for 13 months 0 5
April 21, 1992 Southport, North Carolina, USA NRC forces shut down of Brunswick Units 1 and 2 after emergency diesel generators fail 0 2
February 3, 1993 Bay City, Texas, USA Auxiliary feed-water pumps fail at South Texas Project Units 1 and 2, prompting rapid shutdown of both reactors 0 3
February 27, 1993 Buchanan, New York, USA New York Power Authority shuts down Indian Point Energy Center Unit 3 after AMSAC system fails 0 2
March 2, 1993 Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, USA Equipment failures and broken pipes cause shut down of Sequoyah Unit 1 0 3
December 25, 1993 Newport, Michigan, USA Shut down of Fermi Unit 2 after main turbine experienced major failure due to improper maintenance 0 67
14 January 1995 Wiscasset, Maine, USA Steam generator tubes unexpectedly crack at Maine Yankee nuclear reactor; shut down of the facility for a year 0 62
May 16, 1995 Salem, New Jersey, USA Ventilation systems fail at Salem Units 1 and 2 0 34
February 20, 1996 Waterford, Connecticut, US Leaking valve forces shutdown Millstone Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2, multiple equipment failures found 0 ?
May 15, 1996 Morris, Illinois, US Plunging water levels around the nuclear fuel in the reactor's core prompt shut down at Dresden Generating Station 0 ?
September 2, 1996 Crystal River, Florida, US Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces shutdown and extensive repairs at Crystal River Unit 3 0 384
September 5, 1996 Clinton, Illinois, USA Reactor recirculation pump fails, prompting shut down of Clinton boiling water reactor 0 38
September 20, 1996 Seneca, Illinois, USA Service water system fails and results in closure of LaSalle Units 1 and 2 for more than 2 years 0 71
September 9, 1997 Bridgman, Michigan, USA Ice condenser containment systems fail at Cook Units 1 and 2 0 11
May 25, 1999 Waterford, Connecticut, USA Steam leak in feed-water heater causes manual shutdown and damage to control board annunicator at the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant 0 7
September 29, 1999 Lower Alloways Creek Township, New Jersey, USA Major Freon leak at Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station causes ventilation train chiller to trip, releasing toxic gas and damaging the cooling system 0 2
February 15, 2000 Buchanan, New York, USA NRC Alert issued after steam tube rupture Indian Point Unit 2 [22] 0 2
February 16, 2002 Oak Harbor, Ohio, US Severe boric acid corrosion of reactor head forces 24-month outage of Davis-Besse reactor 0 605[23]
January 15, 2003 Bridgman, Michigan, USA A fault in the main transformer at the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Generating Station causes a fire that damages the main generator and back-up turbines 0 10
June 16, 2005 Braidwood, Illinois, USA Exelon's Braidwood nuclear station leaks tritium and contaminates local water supplies 0 41
August 4, 2005 Buchanan, New York, USA Entergy's Indian Point Nuclear Plant leaks tritium and strontium into underground lakes from 1974 to 2005 30
March 6, 2006 Erwin, Tennessee, USA Nuclear Fuel Services plant spills 35 litres of highly enriched uranium, necessitating 7-month shutdown 0 98
September 2009 Crystal River, Florida, USA When cutting into Crystal River 3 Nuclear Power Plant containment building to create a large opening for the replacement of the Steam generator (nuclear power) the structure was severely cracked resulting in the permanent closure of the facility. 0 1,000+
February 1, 2010 Vernon, Vermont, US Deteriorating underground pipes from the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant leak radioactive tritium into groundwater supplies 0 700
July 15, 2011 Morris, Illinois, US Chemical leak of sodium hypochlorite restricted access to a vital area that houses plant cooling water pumps at Dresden Generating Station 0 ?
January 30, 2012 Byron, Illinois, US Unusual Incident reported at Byron Nuclear Generating Station. Partial loss of offsite power led to a loss of nearly all power and safety functions until operators manually disconnected the grid from the plant. This exposed an electrical design flaw present in nearly every US nuclear reactor. 0 Undetermined
March 31, 2013 Russellville, Arkansas, US One worker was killed and two others injured when part of a generator fell as it was being moved at the Arkansas Nuclear One. 1 ?
July 2016 Bridgman, Michigan, US Heavy steam leak into the turbine building of D.C. Cook Nuclear Station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reactor_accidents_in_the_United_States

A pretty comprehensive list of reactor malfunctions. If you take Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi out of the mix than what is the impact of nuclear power plants on the general population. I wonder what the actual impact on the general population really is as it compares to accidents using other form of energy production. The newer modules with better placement just seems to be a good and safer source of energy. Von's metrics are probably spot on but as nuclear fuels become more manageable and plant infrastructure and locations are revised and improved should we just turn our backs on it. If I read your list of incident correctly it seems many are not involved with radiation exposure. If we could accelerate our development of cold fusion. Very interesting topic, if we're to minimize the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions, something has to give.

 

[von_Bismarck]

There are some LENR techniques that are based on known physics, for example, muon catalyzed fusion. But it's probably mostly a fairly tale. Hot fusion at "high beta", on the other hand, is increasingly promising, with potential for trial plants to go commercial in as soon as 5-10 years.

The economics look pretty good, too. Possibly competitive with the (current) cheapest solar.

 

[icanhelp1]

But, but, but...nuclear energy!
A lot of fans on here, check out the climate change thread. Even some decrying it in this thread while hypocritically supporting it in others. *snickers*
And I'm the idiot? Where are the nuclear energy supporters now? Bunch of fucking goofs.

I didn't watch the new HBO version yet but I will. About ten years ago there was a documentary on Chernobyl. Very vivid and sad event to watch. The people understood it was a death warrant to fight those fires, contractors pouring concrete were doomed from the onset and the absolute devastation to the surrounding population and environment, and the government lies and deceit to hide an embarrassment from its own people and the west. Tragic.

 

[KimGordon67]

New Yorker:
What HBO’s “Chernobyl” Got Right and Terribly Wrong

Oh yeah - I was just about to post that. It's important to remember that 'based on a true story' and 'documentary' are not synonyms.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

I'll eventually watch it but it's just a tv show. I wouldn't put too much stock in what is true or not. It's entertainment.

Nuclear energy is for the most part pretty safe. Weirdly enough I've lived within a few miles of a nuclear plant 3 different times in my life. I have no idea how that happened but it did. Never a single problem unless you count the wart that achieved consciousness and started telling me what to do. I'm sure that's a completely separate issue tho. Besides some of his ideas are pretty good and those bitches had it coming anyway.

 

[dolf]

Not a huge fan of the docudrama format. I prefer my dissection of disaster be a little colder and more factual.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

Not a huge fan of the docudrama format. I prefer my dissection of disaster be a little colder and more factual.

This is the age of entertainment telling us what the facts are. Netflix tells us a murderer is innocent, HBO tells us dragons are real, the news tells us whatever we want to hear.
Better to be entertained and mollified than to know the truth about anything.
Except about the dragons, that shit is real.

 

[dolf]

This is the age of entertainment telling us what the facts are. Netflix tells us a murderer is innocent, HBO tells us dragons are real, the news tells us whatever we want to hear.
Better to be entertained and mollified than to know the truth about anything.
Except about the dragons, that shit is real.

I don't object to them being shown. I think that if you can find a format to engage the average jo/e in issues they would usually find dull, that's a good thing. An aware and questioning public is the only thing keeping politicians in line.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

I don't object to them being shown. I think that if you can find a format to engage the average jo/e in issues they would usually find dull, that's a good thing. An aware and questioning public is the only thing keeping politicians in line.

You see many aware people around? I see people who take what they see on a tv show as fact.

 

[DeYaKen]

There are some LENR techniques that are based on known physics, for example, muon catalyzed fusion. But it's probably mostly a fairly tale. Hot fusion at "high beta", on the other hand, is increasingly promising, with potential for trial plants to go commercial in as soon as 5-10 years.

The economics look pretty good, too. Possibly competitive with the (current) cheapest solar.

Is that why EDF are demanding a guarantee of double the market rate for their energy before they will even start construction of their latest reactor at Hinkley point?

So far we have developed only one type of reactor that can be thought of as safe, the CanDo reactor. It's a little more expensive to build, cheaper to run and leaves you with lower level waste. However, It's no good for producing weapons-grade plutonium and it is far removed from the reactors used in submarines etc. In short, if we went over to CanDo we would lose a lot of expertise the military demand and we wouldn't produce bomb-making material. Governments want to continue with their inherently unsafe reactors in order to make the energy consumer subsidise military development.

 

[von_Bismarck]

Is that why EDF are demanding a guarantee of double the market rate for their energy before they will even start construction of their latest reactor at Hinkley point?

So far we have developed only one type of reactor that can be thought of as safe, the CanDo reactor. It's a little more expensive to build, cheaper to run and leaves you with lower level waste. However, It's no good for producing weapons-grade plutonium and it is far removed from the reactors used in submarines etc. In short, if we went over to CanDo we would lose a lot of expertise the military demand and we wouldn't produce bomb-making material. Governments want to continue with their inherently unsafe reactors in order to make the energy consumer subsidise military development.

I'm referring to fusion reactors, not fission. Totally different animal. I agree that the economics of existing nukes is unfavorable, though there may possibly be good use cases for small modular fission reactors.

 

[dolf]

You see many aware people around? I see people who take what they see on a tv show as fact.

I see people who are at least aware that miscarriages do occur, how a miscarriage of justice might occur, and how hard it is to get your case reconsidered.

 

[icanhelp1]

Is that why EDF are demanding a guarantee of double the market rate for their energy before they will even start construction of their latest reactor at Hinkley point?

So far we have developed only one type of reactor that can be thought of as safe, the CanDo reactor. It's a little more expensive to build, cheaper to run and leaves you with lower level waste. However, It's no good for producing weapons-grade plutonium and it is far removed from the reactors used in submarines etc. In short, if we went over to CanDo we would lose a lot of expertise the military demand and we wouldn't produce bomb-making material. Governments want to continue with their inherently unsafe reactors in order to make the energy consumer subsidise military development.

There is a worldwide concern on reactors using weapons grade plutonium. Those changes are slow. Certain governments with aspirations of becoming a nuclear power will have to be denied such a use and forced to abandon those types of reactors. I predict the next Chernobyl will come from a second rate country who will sidestep safety protocols for bomb making material, or an attack on Iran by Israel on a nuclear facility producing bomb material.