4 ms·
Who enjoys living next to a power plant of any kind?
by cainxinth 1y ago
Who enjoys living next to a power plant of any kind?
- jstanley 1y agoOf all the kinds of power plant, a solar farm has to be the least intrusive.
- bluGill 1y agoNuclear is a good candidate - they take up a lot less land mass for the amount of power generated. I used to leave near one, and when my neighbors where asked where it was most pointed instead to a coal power plant many miles away.
- MisterTea 1y agoI mean sure, nuclear is very interesting but the cost right now is so sky high vs renewable that it's a massive uphill battle to even consider it. Then factor in the negative public perception and waste disposal issues and that hill you have to fight up just became a vertical wall. Solar and wind are low cost and high return. Maybe one day it will make sense but today it does not.
- bluGill 1y agoThe plant I'm talking about was built in the 1950s though. I wouldn't build a new one today for the reasons you state, but having lived near one I'd do it again.
- wingworks 1y agoIn theory I wouldn't mind living next to nuclear. I say in theory, because we've seen too many times when someone cuts corners, or has deadlines or poorly trained staff on site, that when things go wrong, they can sometimes go very very wrong.
- dzhiurgis 1y agoWhen I visited one (decommissioned one in Ignalina, Lithuania where they filmed Chernobyl series) they said the radiation levels are higher than neutral/ambient, but lower than in city because all the concrete is slightly radioactive.
- wingworks 1y agoYeah, that is my understanding too. Usually the inside the plant the radiation is lower than many other industrial places too. But my concern is when things go wrong (like flooding in Japan) the radius of which it can effect can be quite large and take a long time to recover.
- wombatpm 1y agoI live within 10 miles of one which entitles me to annual evacuation instructions and a free iodine pill kit to keep at home in case of an accident. Other than that, we get great fishing in the cooling lakes.
- robotresearcher 1y ago"Fifty thousand people used to live here..." I'm pro nuclear power, but I couldn't resist the pop culture reference. And it's good to remember what can go wrong when people's fallibility interacts with a powerful technology. (Dialog from a memorable Call of Duty level based on Pripyat, Ukraine, near Chernobyl)
- mantas 1y agoOn the other hand an old-school power plant has relatively tiny footprint compared to the same output solars. Many old school plants also rely on dams and provide massive ponds. Which sucks during construction when some people have to move. But in my experience after several decades people are pretty happy to live next to those massive ponds. If I'd have to pick living next to a massive lake which allows boats/yachts/etc (which is not so common in my whereabouts) with a plant on the other side of that lake vs. lake-sized solar plant... Former does sound better.
- scarecrowbob 1y agoMe- it's much cheaper to have panels than it would have been to run power to my property and I put them in a place with minimal aesthetic impace.