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People often fail to compare the opportunity cost of alternative methods to nuclear power. At that time the alternative to nuclear was coal power plants. Radioa
by d_sem 3y ago
People often fail to compare the opportunity cost of alternative methods to nuclear power. At that time the alternative to nuclear was coal power plants. Radioactive carbon isotopes have harmed many times more people than Nuclear.
- ImaCake 3y agoCoal dust, sans radioactive stuff, and coal burning emissions also exact a terrible toll on respiratory health. A lot of people have died, or had much worse lives, thanks to the widespread use of coal.
- tourmalinetaco 3y agoDon’t leave out the coal miners. The history of oppressive companies, grueling work conditions, constant possibility of death through any number of horrible circumstances, and the lifelong damage of unprotected mining on the lungs has harmed generations of families should never be forgotten.
- azinman2 3y agoMeanwhile as a population they’re voting for people who want more coal mining. They are 6 figure jobs in a depressed economic area.
- reducesuffering 3y agoAnd yet, what if that labor went into nuclear construction instead? How many 6 figure construction jobs is many multi-billion $ nuclear plants?
- azinman2 3y agoWhat percent of coal miners do you think could make that transition?
- defrost 3y agoMost of them; deisel mechanics, electricians, explosives techs, train drivers, riggers, machine operators, etc. What, tell me you don't think coal miners have pick axes and chip coal out of tunnel walls into sacks.
- lost_tourist 3y agoCoal miners are human too, they can adapt, people can pick up new skills.
- rationalist 3y agoIt seems like you're implying that many of them cannot make the transition. Why do you think they cannot?
- azinman2 3y agoWell for one there have been gov efforts before under Obama but it didn’t result in a big shift (for whatever reason). But also I think it’s very elitist and with a lot of hubris to suggest an entire population should easily be able to shift from one thing they’ve done for decades with all of the structural support in a community of it, to something else. Most people are not so fluid, both in capability but also receptive to change. Throughout history change gets resisted.
- pfdietz 3y agoCoal contains no significant radioactive carbon. All the radioisotopes of carbon have half life many orders of magnitude smaller than the age of coal deposits. Coal contains other radioactive elements, though. However, the quantity of these is still usually less than the quantity that needs to be mined to power a light water reactor.
- DennisP 3y agoYes but the nuclear fuel is carefully contained during and after use. Not so much for coal.
- pfdietz 3y agoThe decay products of uranium are not well contained at uranium mines. They are in massive tailing piles, just as the radioactive elements in coal end up in ash. Less gets said about these mine-related radioactive elements because they are typically in other countries, often countries where the people have darker skins.
- smegger001 3y agoYes the radioactive decay products of the naturally occurring ore already in the ground naturally are still in the tailings. But they were there already before. With the removal of the uranium the net radioactive material left would be lower the the initial levels though no?
- pfdietz 3y agoThe daughter products will eventually decay away, but it will take a very long time. In particular, radium has a half life of 1600 years. In any case, these are exactly the same daughters as from the decay of uranium in coal, so the argument you are making there is equivalent to an argument that could be made about coal ash.
- smegger001 3y ago
- Manuel_D 3y agoI'm being a bit pedantic here, but it's the heavy metals contained inside of coal - cadmium, uranium, thorium - that are the main pollution concerns, not the carbon from the coal itself. Coal is definitely one of the dirtiest fuels, though, besides biomass.
- lost_tourist 3y agoHow many people have died in coal mines, had black lung, died from coal pollution etc. It's really no comparison. People are just flat out afraid radioactivity from nuclear because of movies and bad information campaigns. It -is- scary, invisible, can give you a death sentence in moment if you get a LOT of the right kind. I think human civilization dying out is a alot scarier to me.