4 ms·
Humans have shown time and time again we cannot be trusted to consistently do things right, so the likely outcomes of some realistic percentage of 'terrible pla
by mambodog 9y ago
Humans have shown time and time again we cannot be trusted to consistently do things right, so the likely outcomes of some realistic percentage of 'terrible planning', as you put it, should be part of any comparison of power generation techniques.
The analogy you make to solar ignores that the failure modes of nuclear are much worse than solar.
- jimmaswell 9y agoFrom the page I found, "more Americans have died from installing rooftop solar than have ever died from the construction or use of American nuclear power plants". On average, nuclear is safer. The likelihood of another Fukashima is even lower now that it's happened and been documented.
- mambodog 9y agoI think you mean 'on average, nuclear is safer than rooftop solar'. How about nuclear vs. large scale solar? Large scale solar + wind? These are more realistic equivalents to nuclear.
- jimmaswell 9y agoThis still seems to just mention rooftop but it's still telling how far US nuclear is below its next runner up, Hydro - .1 to 5 deaths/trillion kWh
- jimmaswell 9y agoMeant to link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-price-always-paid/#2f56e537709b https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-d...
- rawrRAWR 9y agoThis can quickly change, when one terrorist attack happens on a single nuclear plant. Not so much with wind or solar, though ;)
- jimmaswell 9y agoFrom what I'm seeing in this PDF, it's not that much of a concern. http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/34/066/34066699.pdf http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Publ...
- anigbrowl 9y agoThat's certainly a delicious cherry you picked. I'm pro nuclear myself, but ignoring people's legitimate worries about worst-case scenarios is not a great advocacy strategy.
- jimmaswell 9y agoIt's hardly cherry picking. Look at this chart: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-deathprint-a-price-always-paid/#2f56e537709b https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2012/06/10/energys-d...
- anigbrowl 9y agoThe externalities of nuclear disasters/errors don't halt at borders, diffuse though they are.