Notes on Nuclear Power [Citation Needed]

[athelind]

... This is just a quick note. No substance, no references, no citations.


A lot of people are up in arms about how the situation in Japan underscores the "dangers of nuclear power".

To this point, the radiation leaked into the environment is minimal. Things are Very Bad Indeed if you're within a certain radius of the plant, but my suspicion is that the increased health risks and hazards caused by this amount of radiation will still be substantially less than those caused by fossil fuel plants.

Let me emphasize this:

The environmental and human impact of a complex of nuclear reactors failing catastrophically after a major disaster is less than that of fossil fuel plants in the regular course of their operation.^{[Citation Needed]}

I will endeavor to find numbers to confirm or deny this next week, after I return home.

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Yes, I just used the Lorax as an icon in a possibly-pro-nuclear post.

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Comments

[paka.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the information!

Also, the obvious bleeding heart liberal comments to make here are that, the same way I've noticed we aren't literally dismantling mountains in the west, I've noticed that we don't have troops overseas dying to make sure we have a supply of Uranium, and that as odious as I find some Arizona politicking, it's a lot less obnoxious than maintaining a good diplomatic relationship with good folks like Saudi Arabia.