undefined | Better HN

0 pointsZafira10y ago0 comments

As much as I agree and support the use of nuclear power to meet our energy requirements, I think the most obvious downside when a nuclear plant fails also happens to help remind the public of what a nuclear failure can create.

The only two Level 7 nuclear events in the world — Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi — have have rendered large swaths of land unusable for a significant amount of time. Whether or not the exclusion zones surrounding these two areas need to be as large as they are can be argued. However, when a hydroelectric dam fails more people die initially, but as the cleanup happens and the reporters fade away, the event fades into the background. With nuclear incidents people are persistently reminded whether through apocalyptic movies or people going into the exclusion zones to photograph the ruins that are left behind.

0 comments

3 comments · 2 top-level

Someone10y ago· 1 in thread

"With nuclear incidents people are persistently reminded whether through apocalyptic movies or people going into the exclusion zones to photograph the ruins that are left behind."

We could make movies about dams that collapse, too and we have. I'm not even sure there are more about nuclear accidents (nuclear war, yes, but accidents?). Even if there are, I think the movies are a symptom of the problem, not its cause. The invisible danger of radiation being held back by walls of concrete just looks more dangerous to us than the visible danger of a wall of water being held back by walls of concrete.

And Chernobyl? A nature reserve. I can see someone writing a SF story about cultures that protect existing nature by the controlled disposal of radio-active material.

_ph_10y ago

If the damage done by Chernobyl was limited to the restricted area around the town, that wouldn't be so bad. But in fact, as I wrote in my other comment, large parts of western Europe have been contaminated too. Not to the level where one cannot live there any more, but to the level, where it makes it dangerous to eat wild mushrooms and game (which has to be checked for radioactivity before being considered edible). And this will be an issue for many decades to come.

zamalek10y ago

> I think the most obvious downside when a nuclear plant fails also happens to help remind the public of what a nuclear failure can create.

1. It's out-of-the-ordinary. Nobody would pay attention to the monthly news report that coal burning has, yet again, damaged the environment to the same degree as a meltdown.

2. Our monkey brains are incredibly bad at realizing that gases can be more dangerous than those scary barrels with scary warning symbols. Instead of being hidden away underground, gasses conveniently "disappear" into the air.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse