6 ms·
How Many People Did Nuclear Energy Kill? [video]
- mam2 6y agoLess than coal, oil and even hydropower per KW.h. https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy
- jleahy 6y agoEven after making absolute worst case assumptions (linear no threshold), which are still widely debated (see the book ‘Radiation and reason’ by Wade Allison, my old professor, if you are sufficiently interested).
- bsanr2 6y agoBut does that scale? Planes kill fewer people than cars do per mile traveled. What happens when everyone has a flying car?
- enkid 6y agoYes...? We would still be talking about highly regulated centralized power generation. We're not talking about everyone having a nuclear reactor in their backyard.
- floxy 6y agoI thought small modular reactors were the new hotness in this space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_small_modular_reactor_designs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_small_modular_reactor_...
- lm28469 6y agoThat's a bad analogy. France gets 70% of its electricity from nuclear and it scales perfectly fine. It's not like everyone will have his own personal nuclear reactor in their living room
- fasteddie31003 6y agoI think most environmentalist are just very anti-growth and just want to solve environmental issues by reducing any resource consumption. By saying no to nuclear they are fulfilling their anti-growth strategy, but leaving a large resource gap that gets filled by more polluting, less dramatic energy sources.
- kangnkodos 6y agoSo close. The only acceptable solution to them is less consumption. They don't really think through the consequences. For example, they have cancelled the Keystone XL pipeline, but simply do not think about the additional fossil fuel that will be burned transporting that oil via train instead. They dream of less consumption and ignore the actual real world consequences.
- Analemma_ 6y agoNo, the point is that shipping by train is more expensive. The point is to drive up the price of oil and hasten the time when it becomes uncompetitive with renewables.
- kangnkodos 6y agoThat's a good point. But is it better to raise taxes on fossil fuel, or decide to ship oil via train instead of pipeline? I'm not sure what the exact tradeoff would be if train delivered oil was a little more expensive. A little more expensive would lead to a little less usage while the delilvery would pump more pollution into the air. The math might work out out your way or my way. If I could snap my fingers, I would raise the tax on oil dramatically, and ship oil via pipeline until renewables actually take over and the demand for fossil fuel actually goes down. It seems to me that it would be better for the environment than other alternatives.
- keynan 6y agoI agree this is optimal, however politics is a thing and you went and used the word tax.
- bryanlarsen 6y agoThe argument against nuclear is no longer environmental, it's cost. For the price of a kWh of nuclear (20cents), you can get 3 kWh of solar (3x1.5), 2 kWh of wind (2x3) and 1 kWh of geothermal (7.5cents), with a few cents left over to upgrade your power lines. And you can get it in a year, rather than in a couple of decades.
- mam2 6y agoIt's cost, BECAUSE environmentalists have slowed down innovation through fear-mongering.. If it was any other industries it would be cheaper.
- bryanlarsen 6y agoYou're probably right, but so what? You can rail against past injustice but nothing you can do will make nuclear power a rational choice in 2021 or beyond. Solar power is cheaper than just the steam turbine in a nuclear plant.
- mam2 6y agoInvesting in it now would make it cheaper on the long term
- pvaldes 6y agoNot to mention that nuclear was used for doing a few very obscene and terrible things that will rank easily among the worst crimes against humanity. If investors suddenly don't want to be linked with your product in any way... well, maybe your product sucks. Burning thousands of people alive isn't good for your brand image and PR. Keep blaming other people for your own bad decisions instead to face the consequences of your acts is what children do. Lets behave as adults.
- projct 6y agothis is like saying gasoline is bad because napalm.