At 18:20 5-7-01 -0500, Adam Lipscomb wrote:
> > Most reports were TV documentaries, not newspaper articles. And no, I
>don't
> > remember if those documentaries made any references to articles in
> > scientific papers.
>
>As Dan pointed out, it's relatively easy to do a bit of web research and
>find some scientific data on these issues.
There's a slight problem there. All this took place in the eighties and
nineties (haven't seen anything on TV about this in the last few years, but
that might be because I don't watch much TV anymore). Back then, I didn't
*have* web access. Heck, most people had never even heard of the Internet
(or ARPANET).
> > That's because both sides have a different approach. Assume someone
>reports
> > a significant increase in the number of cancer cases near a nuclear power
> > plant. The pro-side will say "there is no evidence that it is caused by
>the
> > power plant". The con-side however reasons: "radiation (like from a
>nuclear
> > plant) can cause cancer; if there aren't any other likely suspects that
> > might have caused this high number of cases, then logically it must have
> > been caused by the power plant".
>
>But then the pro side rebuts with, "Funny you should say that, since we've
>done a statistical study that indicates that there is not, in fact, a
>statistically significant increase in cancer rates near this plant, and
>here's the evidnece we gathered." The con-side then repeat, "But we've got
>these reported cases!" and they never offer any evidence beyond anecdotes.
And when the con-site then asks the pro-site "if it wasn't the power plant,
then wat *did* cause this outbreak", the answer is either "coincidence" or
"er... er... er...".
> > If part of that 90% is nuclear, it will have to be imported electricity.
>We
> > have two nuclear power plants in The Netherlands: Dodewaard en Borssele.
> > The plant at Dodewaard was permanently shut down in March 1997. Once the
> > plant in Borssele is shut down, it will be the end of nuclear energy in
>The
> > Netherlands; there are no plans to build another nuclear power plant here.
>
>Why were the plants shut down?
The plant in Dodewaard was shut down for two reasons. First, the SEP
(Cooperation of Electricity-producing Companies) didn't want to invest tens
of millions of guilders in it after the government announced it wanted to
get rid of nuclear energy. The second reason was that back then the power
companies had to prepare to compete on the free market, so they wanted to
get rid of "as much financial ballast as possible". (Dodewaard was an
experimental plant, not build to be competitive).
The plant itself will still decorate the landscape for the next 40 years --
the time it takes to reduce the radio-activity to such a level that the
plant can be safely demolished.
The plant in Borssele is still operational, and is scheduled to permanently
shut down on January 1st, 2004.
Jeroen
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