4 ms·
Radon leaking into buildings has killed many orders of magnitude more people than nuclear accidents and nuclear weapons combined, no matter how liberal your est
by johncolanduoni 9y ago
Radon leaking into buildings has killed many orders of magnitude more people than nuclear accidents and nuclear weapons combined, no matter how liberal your estimates.
- mikeash 9y agoThat's only because radon is way more common.
- pmorici 9y agoThat's kind of the point.
- mikeash 9y agoI don't get the point. It's quite reasonable to treat a pervasive, small risk differently from a rare, large risk. You're far more likely to die from sunlight than from botulism, but we treat the latter far more carefully. That's only to be expected, since the risk from exposure is far higher for botulism. What I'm pointing out is different behavior when dealing with substances that have similar risks. If I had a basement, I'd much prefer to have naturally occurring radon in it than either high-level nuclear waste or toxic chemical waste, if somehow that was my choice.