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Lots of people have been killed by dam failures. 240,000 people just from the failure of the Banqiao and Shimantan Dams in 1975, according to wikipedia: https:/
by hermitcrab 4y ago
Lots of people have been killed by dam failures. 240,000 people just from the failure of the Banqiao and Shimantan Dams in 1975, according to wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam_failure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam_failure
But I don't see anyone calling for an end to hydroelectric power. Fission power certainly has it's issues, but I think a lot of the opposition to it is more emotional than rational.
- pengaru 4y ago> But I don't see anyone calling for an end to hydroelectric power. You must not be looking very hard then, plenty folks object to hydroelectric power.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y agoThere's quite a big difference between objecting to specific instances of hydroelectric power and opposition to the entire concept (as exists for nuclear fission)
- DubiousPusher 4y agoIn the United States at least, new hydro is basically dead.
- _hypx 4y agoThat's mostly due to the lack of viable rivers left to dam.
- colordrops 4y agoThere are plenty of people who oppose it as a concept, for environmental reasons.
- karaterobot 4y agoTrue, including me! But, to be fair, you almost never hear about the direct risks to humans, only their affect on the ecosystem. I think if you asked most people whether the dam upstream from their home could burst and kill them, they'd say "that can't happen anymore", whereas if you asked about the nuclear plant upwind from their house, they'd say "yes, nuclear plants are fundamentally unsafe". That's the opposite of what you'd say if you just looked at the number of historical deaths, which is why I suspect it does not come from a cold-blooded look at those statistics, but from somewhere else.