6 ms·

You can include hydro too. Banqiao Dam. Or Sayano–Shushenskaya power station accident in 2009 if you want more recent one.

ceejayoz 10y ago
Banqiao Dam killed one hundred seventy one THOUSAND people, for anyone who's skimming past. If a nuclear plant killed that many it'd be the end of nuclear power.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  But nuclear power can kill slowly over decades. Can we come up with the true number of deaths (or shortened lives) from radiation? Its hard to compare.
  - ceejayoz 10y ago
    > Can we come up with the true number of deaths (or shortened lives) from radiation? Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_by_death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_and_radiation_... Estimates will range a bit, but we can say with complete confidence that all nuclear accidents thus far haven't come anywhere near that one dam failure.
    - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
      Reading that page, I see estimates from 1/10 to 10X the dam failure. I can't see how it could be said "haven't come anywhere near"
      - ceejayoz 10y ago
        > I see estimates from 1/10 to 10X the dam failure. What? Banqiao Dam killed 171,000 people. There's zero reputable evidence (or even reasonable speculation) for nuclear accidents killing 1.7 million. Even Greenpeace caps out at 200k, and UN/WHO come in in the dozens-to-thousands range.
        JoeAltmaier 10y ago
        I can only say, read the article just quoted? It wasn't me that put that up there.
- makomk 10y ago
  As I understand it, Banqiao Dam was primarily intended as a flood defence scheme. Even if China had abandoned hydroelectric power they'd still have had to construct the dam for that reason. If they'd used nuclear power (which I don't think existed back then) instead, you'd still have had all the deaths from the dam failure plus however many people they managed to kill from applying the same inadequate construction standards and mismanagement to nuclear power plants.

ceejayoz 10y ago

Banqiao Dam killed one hundred seventy one THOUSAND people, for anyone who's skimming past. If a nuclear plant killed that many it'd be the end of nuclear power.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago
But nuclear power can kill slowly over decades. Can we come up with the true number of deaths (or shortened lives) from radiation? Its hard to compare.
- ceejayoz 10y ago
  > Can we come up with the true number of deaths (or shortened lives) from radiation? Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_by_death_toll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_and_radiation_... Estimates will range a bit, but we can say with complete confidence that all nuclear accidents thus far haven't come anywhere near that one dam failure.
  - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
    Reading that page, I see estimates from 1/10 to 10X the dam failure. I can't see how it could be said "haven't come anywhere near"
    - ceejayoz 10y ago
      > I see estimates from 1/10 to 10X the dam failure. What? Banqiao Dam killed 171,000 people. There's zero reputable evidence (or even reasonable speculation) for nuclear accidents killing 1.7 million. Even Greenpeace caps out at 200k, and UN/WHO come in in the dozens-to-thousands range.
      - JoeAltmaier 10y ago
        I can only say, read the article just quoted? It wasn't me that put that up there.
makomk 10y ago
As I understand it, Banqiao Dam was primarily intended as a flood defence scheme. Even if China had abandoned hydroelectric power they'd still have had to construct the dam for that reason. If they'd used nuclear power (which I don't think existed back then) instead, you'd still have had all the deaths from the dam failure plus however many people they managed to kill from applying the same inadequate construction standards and mismanagement to nuclear power plants.