Well the thing is, there are always some risks of problems however small they may be (terrorist etc). But besides that, every reactor which ever existed (except for the very first russian ones, safety wasnt a real issue for them) is tecnically already safe. As long as there are no technical failures. Troughout the years more and more safety measures were added. Although it can go wrong, look at Tsjernobyl, but what would you expect when you experiment with all safeties off and change shifts during the middle of the experiment. And Fukushima, but again what would you expect with a 40 year old reactor with such an earthquake and tsunami. Considering that, it stood up pretty well. But for the newer reactors with all the extra technical safety measures its very very very unlikely something will ever go wrong there. And apart from that, new so-called generation 3+ and generation 4 reactors are inherently safe. Meaning it is physically impossible for a meltdown to occur by self regulating means (differs for every reactor, so if you are particulary interested in it just google the generation 3+ and 4 reactors and you should find plenty of information on it. But if you have trouble finding it let me know and i will see what i can find. So the only way it can go wrong there is if you let a huge bomb of inside or possibly crash with multiple planes or something (although every reactor has a dome which can at least take 1 jumbo jet plane). The only other issue is the waste. In europe this is handled pretty well by now. Basicaly all the waste gets collected to a huge facility in france which makes the waste almost fully re-usable. Only problem then remains the transport which gets held up by crazy activists who don't know what they are talking about. The US basically just stores the waste underground though, so that is not a very good way. But among the upcoming reactors there are also 'breeder reactors' which actually produce more fuel then they consume. Again with google there is a lot to find about that. Even Wikipedia and the sources it uses are very good. So basically nuclear power plants were technically safe in the past, and the newer ones are also inherently safe. Long post is long i know, but i hope i helped you out a bit, and if you want to know more you can always ask
Putting the risks of a nuclear reactor aside I just recently talked to several americans about nuclear energy. You'd be surprised how stupid people can appear if lobbyism is all they know. Like, I said "There is no geologically safe place that can guarantee the safe storage of nuclear waste for the time it takes it to lose its lethal radiation" and they said "we have huge deserts, we can just put it there". :?
I always thought high radioactive waste can't be transported (or at least not easily). Only low radioactive waste. For instance in Belgium high nuclear waste is stored at the reactors location and there are plans to store it in the clay layers deep underground. And yeah eacht time an international transport of nuclair waste goes over our ground: people are against it, while watching there favorite newsstation telling them.
Typical americans, they actually do it which is the worst, sometimes in some sort of bunker, or just out in the open air with a nice little fence around it....But what you said is not completly true. It is true for most american reactors though. But there are new reactors which need some further development leaves waste which is not more radioactive than natural materials after 100-200 years (Currently 300-500 years). Storage might be an option than. Maybe not preferred i agree(recycling just is better in my opinion in every way), but might be something for them since they seem to love storage. High radioactive transport can and does get transported. In fact for the recycling process there is only 1 facility in europe which is in France. And for the recycling mainly high radioactive waste is used since the most can be won in that. And as i mentioned earlier basically whole of europe sends it there or buys from there (even russia and i think the high nuclear waste storage at the reactor is just temporarily and they collect up a bit until they send it to the facility in france). But nuclear power plants aren't the only ones creating nuclear waste. Hospitals, research facilities and a lot of different factories also produce nuclear waste. And that is the waste which normally gets stored long term(and the older waste from the nuclear power plants which has been stored in the past i guess). Ofcourse there is also the temporary storage but that's a different matter. I never really understood that, they claim it is unsafe, so they delay it for as long as possible? If it were unsafe that would be the most stupid thing you could do. Fortunately it is not unsafe but i just cant find the logic in their actions.
sitting with my sweaty cloths from the hockey i played about 3-4hours ago. it wont be the best way to increase your health but a good way to increase your level in WoW Message to LZ: I will be little more inactive here at LZ. Reasons, 1) School 2) GF 3) WoW I promise that i will come to the forums at least 3x a week to check the news and active topic. PS, i wont be as much online as i used to be. if you want to contact me, PM me.( direct link if i copied it right <a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.lethal-zone.eu/ucp.php?i=pm&mode=compose&action=quotepost&p=140368" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">ucp.php?i=pm&mode=compose&action=quotepost&p=140368</a> ) Cheers, Sypermann
Sitting on my couch, watching Castle Season 3 (again) and browsing through the forum... Have a nice evening everyone
I just watched eps 17 + 18 with the dirty bomb... It was totally awesome! Actually going through the series for the first time.
Being extremely happy. Just got the details about my Meet & Greet with Simple Plan before their concert on the 18th!