----- Original Message -----
From: Sonja van Baardwijk-Holten <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2001 9:52 AM
Subject: Re: W. on the Environment
> Doug Pensinger schreef:
>
> > Charlie Bell wrote:
> >
> > > Unless you live in the northern part of Ukraine... ;o)
> > >
> > > Yeah, that's what I read Dan as saying too. Standing next to another
perason
> > > exposes you to more radiation than you're getting from the power
station 200
> > > miles up the road, as long as all the safety measures are in place...
> >
> > 200 miles? Sheesh, I spent the better part of four years less than 200
feet
> > from the core of a small nuke, wearing a dosimeter that was checked
monthly (I
> > think, it's been a while), and it never indicated radiation anything
close to
> > a dangerous level.
> >
> > Not that I'm a big nuke fan, but there is a serious amount of unfounded
> > hysteria surrounding the issue.
>
> I'm not afraid of nuclear energy as such. It is a nice way to get a lot of
energy
> at low cost in the short run. What I am afraid of most is what happens if
it does
> _not_ work properly. Accidents will happen no matter how well maintained a
system
> it is.
That is true. The question is what happens when there are accidents. We
have two. Take TMI. No one died, and billions were lost. That's
absolutly wonderful if you think about it. Other power companies have a very
strong ecconomic incentive for safely, yet no one die. With Chernobyl, it is
terrible that people dies, but the ecconomic hit per death was much higher
than, say, in coal mining, or construction. That is good. It is impossible
for a capitialistic concern to not be worried about money.
Chenobyl lost 30% of the main long lived isotope (Cs) in that explosion.
You can't lose more than 100%. It does seem to be a good example of what
happens when containment is breached.
And...they had no containment building, just the reactor building itself.
The containment building is designed to hold a bigger force than the largest
explosion possible.
So, what happens with there is an accident: the owners lose money. If one
has a containment building, deaths should be limited.
There is no industry with a perfect safety record. But
>Another worry I have is the waste. What are you gonne do with it?
What in the world is wrong with storing it deep below the earth in
formations that have been stable for millions of years and are geologically
isolated? The safe storage is passive..it doesn't have to be checked. If
it leaks, God fobid, where's it going to go?
Dan M.
