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The gases used as refrigerants are actually not that dangerous at all, which is why they're used in such situations. If the thin pipes of your fridge or AC leak

The gases used as refrigerants are actually not that dangerous at all, which is why they're used in such situations. If the thin pipes of your fridge or AC leak all their refrigerant in your home you'll be fine. Maybe have some difficulty breathing, it's not healthy but nothing serious. Having a nuclear reactor in every house would be insane. Even if they don't leak radiation during their lifespan in normal operation. You can scare most people out of opening them. But can you scare every single person out of doing so? Considering some will be mentally unstable too, or outright psychopathic. The most dangerous thing a mad person can do right now is blow up their house with natural gas. Which is pretty bad, it can damage houses in the nearby area. It absolutely pales in comparison to creating a mini meltdown or even nuclear pollution however. One alpha-emitting dust particle inhaled into the lungs is enough to kill over time. And this is not a fantasy. It's happened in real life. Consider the Goiania incident for example and it's not the only one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident

mLuby 5y ago
> But can you scare every single person out of [tampering with a home atomic reactor]? I'd bet there's a reactor design that's tamper-proof enough to be less lethal than vending machines. That just leaves very determined, educated terrorists trying to harvest the fuel for radiotoxins or a dirty bomb. There are probably less convoluted ways to cause mass death and destruction than that, but "radioactive" and "fallout" are certainly more terrifying than "gunman" "bomb" or "poison" even if the actual damage is likely much lower. > The most dangerous thing a mad person can do right now is blow up their house with natural gas. Wiki says the Oklahoma City bomb cost USD5000 and was equivalent to 5000 lbs of TNT. I don't have a TNT figure for gas explosions in buildings (even the worst-case intentional one you describe), but it sounds like they're way less powerful than that. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271492483_Hazard_analysis_and_consequences_assessment_of_gas_pipeline_rupture_and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271492483_Hazard_an... Don't forget to weigh all this doom and gloom against the massive (green) upsides of distributed power generation!
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  > That just leaves very determined, educated terrorists trying to harvest the fuel for radiotoxins or a dirty bomb. There are probably less convoluted ways to cause mass death and destruction than that, but "radioactive" and "fallout" are certainly more terrifying than "gunman" "bomb" or "poison" even if the actual damage is likely much lower. Really, look at that Goiania incident. 93 grams (3.3 oz, less than half the weight of an average smartphone) of radioactive material found by some scavengers who dragged it around the city. Result: 4 people dead. 249 contaminated of which many with health issues. More than $100 million in cleanup. It was one of the worst radiological incidents. Now imagine having this kind of material available in every house... There'd also be massive proliferation of nuclear waste which may or may not be processed and stored correctly.

mLuby 5y ago

> But can you scare every single person out of [tampering with a home atomic reactor]? I'd bet there's a reactor design that's tamper-proof enough to be less lethal than vending machines. That just leaves very determined, educated terrorists trying to harvest the fuel for radiotoxins or a dirty bomb. There are probably less convoluted ways to cause mass death and destruction than that, but "radioactive" and "fallout" are certainly more terrifying than "gunman" "bomb" or "poison" even if the actual damage is likely much lower. > The most dangerous thing a mad person can do right now is blow up their house with natural gas. Wiki says the Oklahoma City bomb cost USD5000 and was equivalent to 5000 lbs of TNT. I don't have a TNT figure for gas explosions in buildings (even the worst-case intentional one you describe), but it sounds like they're way less powerful than that. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271492483_Hazard_analysis_and_consequences_assessment_of_gas_pipeline_rupture_and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271492483_Hazard_an... Don't forget to weigh all this doom and gloom against the massive (green) upsides of distributed power generation!

GekkePrutser 5y ago
> That just leaves very determined, educated terrorists trying to harvest the fuel for radiotoxins or a dirty bomb. There are probably less convoluted ways to cause mass death and destruction than that, but "radioactive" and "fallout" are certainly more terrifying than "gunman" "bomb" or "poison" even if the actual damage is likely much lower. Really, look at that Goiania incident. 93 grams (3.3 oz, less than half the weight of an average smartphone) of radioactive material found by some scavengers who dragged it around the city. Result: 4 people dead. 249 contaminated of which many with health issues. More than $100 million in cleanup. It was one of the worst radiological incidents. Now imagine having this kind of material available in every house... There'd also be massive proliferation of nuclear waste which may or may not be processed and stored correctly.