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Normal operation of coal powerplants is more dangerous than the worst accidents we had with nuclear powerplants. Modern nuclear powerplants are much safer than
by ajuc 8y ago
Normal operation of coal powerplants is more dangerous than the worst accidents we had with nuclear powerplants.
Modern nuclear powerplants are much safer than these that had accidents.
Yes you have to include the possibility of new accidents - being sabotaged or not. But that possibility needs to be weighed with the probability of it. And it's very low.
Meanwhile we completely ignore the 100% sure deaths and radiation caused by coal powerplants. Because we're used to it.
BTW sabotaging hydro powerplants can kill hundreds of thousands of people at once. And it's much easier than sabotaging a nuclear powerplant. Get one diver with a swimsuit and give him some TNT.
Somehow I haven't seen this used as a counterargument to renewable energy :)
- strainer 8y agoFor all the stretched comparisons about how safe nuclear can be, the technology is a liability which requires great care and expense to keep secure and safe. Its promotion was competing with and obstructing the promotion of renewables for over a decade past, but its moot now that in the past couple of years the price performance of renewables has become unassailable. There's no point promoting nuclear anymore and arguing about how safe nuclear has been or could be - its more expensive already than wind and solar, materially, environmentally, security-wise and economically. Wind and solar are still on a rapid improvement curve. Nuclear powered heat plants are not futuristic generation options, they're relics from the nuclear arms race.
- Tade0 8y agoYes you have to include the possibility of new accidents - being sabotaged or not. But that possibility needs to be weighed with the probability of it. And it's very low. This is not a case of of risk but uncertainty - very different strategies apply here.