UK nuclear support fades after Japan quake

[BlasterBates]

A massive radiation dose increases your risk of cancer by 10%, smoking increases your risk of lung cancer by 1000%.

[Fred Bloggs]

What would be the effect of a major accident at a coal fired power station? Would you be able to build houses and schools on the land afterwards?

And hydro-electric means you lose the land straight away.

Fukushima was hit by one of the biggest earthquakes on record, followed by a huge tsunami that devastated cities and killed 20,000 people, which in disaster stakes is as bad as it gets. And what happened? Nobody died, in fact none of the workers and certainly none of the public received any significant amount of radiation other than the two workers who had some minor burns from contaminated water.

Even when the tulipe hits the fan on that scale, nobody is killed or seriously injured. Can any other major industrial processes claim to be that safe? It's crazy that people are more scared of nuclear power after Fukushima; they should be reassured by what happened.

Couldn't agree more and those designs were >40 years old.

[shaunbhoy]

Couldn't agree more and those designs were >40 years old.

WFBS

Good to see that the more level-headed posters are all drawing the same pragmatic conclusions. Now if we can just settle the panicky Sun-reading ones down somehow.

[OwlHoot]

A massive radiation dose increases your risk of cancer by 10%, smoking increases your risk of lung cancer by 1000%.

Is that supposed to be tongue in cheek?

[original PM]

ahem

Coal power plants continually produce more radioactive waste than nuclear plants

Linky

And as we do not live on a fault line the chances of a disaster similar to Japan are pretty much 0

So yes nuclear is the way to go - ask the French

[TimberWolf]

So yes nuclear is the way to go - ask the French

Est-nucléaire du chemin à parcourir singe fromage?

And if their nukes blow, we'd get fallout anyway, with a favourable north westerly.

[scooterscot]

And hydro-electric means you lose the land straight away.

We've ran out of space we now need to build houses way up in the mountains?

Even when the tulipe hits the fan on that scale, nobody is killed or seriously injured.

Turns out Tsunami was not the only force of nature I was thinking of; what about man? What if a terrorist targeted a reactor with an explosive? Contamination could spread over a wide area. 5 reactors in the south of England, wait for the right wind conditions and London is a ghost town.

Can any other major industrial processes claim to be that safe?

If it's made by man it is fallible. I don't know of any other MIP where the outcome can be so devastating.

[Cliphead]

We've ran out of space we now need to build houses way up in the mountains?



Turns out Tsunami was not the only force of nature I was thinking of; what about man? What if a terrorist targeted a reactor with an explosive? Contamination could spread over a wide area. 5 reactors in the south of England, wait for the right wind conditions and London is a ghost town.



If it's made by man it is fallible. I don't know of any other MIP where the outcome can be so devastating.

You really don't have a clue do you?

[scooterscot]

You really don't have a clue do you?

I perform quantitive risk assessments for a living.

[Cliphead]

I perform quantitive risk assessments for a living.

God help yer clients