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The failure of the Banqiao Dam in China in 1975 killed 171,000 people; 11,000,000 people lost their homes. This is many orders of magnitude higher than the casu
by JorgeGT 10y ago
The failure of the Banqiao Dam in China in 1975 killed 171,000 people; 11,000,000 people lost their homes. This is many orders of magnitude higher than the casualties and damages directly attributed to the failure of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Furthermore, Fukushima Daiichi was an old design (more than a decade older than Chernobyl nº4 reactor) whereas modern designs are much more safe.
- Aelinsaar 10y agoFukushima Daiichi was also subjected to a historically significant natural disaster, it wasn't exactly an "everyday" or even "every century" event.
- guscost 10y agoAnd the area around the reactor isn't uninhabitable, it's just illegal to live there at the moment.
- ptaipale 10y agoYes. What is funny is that some of my countrymen, who lived in Japan as expats, left the area because of radiation, and came back home, where the natural background radiation is higher than in the evacuated Fukushima area.
- makomk 10y agoFrom what I can tell, Banqiao Dam was dual-purpose: it was intended for flood control as well as power generation. If China had sourced power from a nuclear plant, the dam would likely still have failed and killed hundreds of thousands of people, we just wouldn't be able to attribute those deaths to hydroelectric power. Furthermore, modern nuclear power plants may be safe but they aren't exactly economically viable, which is why nuclear operators are so keen on extending the operation of existing plants of the same design as Fukushima Daiichi. Also, I'm pretty sure the official position on Fukushima was that it was safe, right up until it wasn't.
- JorgeGT 10y agoThe fact remains that hydro power requires storing the potential energy of a very large amount of water. This is inherently a danger for the population living downstream. I certainly would prefer to live in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant rather than in the floodpath of a large dam.
- Aelinsaar 10y agoNot to mention that if something goes wrong with a plant, you'll probably have time to evacuate. If a dam fails catastrophically, you'll probably first know when you feel the ground shaking, and that will be too late for you.