Ancestors

Written by Patrick Townsend on 2024-10-04 at 17:04

Nuclear power

This is personal for me. I remember the Three Mile Island meltdown. I was not in that location, but I remember how close it came to a major disaster that would have impacted a wide area. Before that meltdown I remember listening to nuclear energy "experts" exclaiming how safe and clean nuclear energy is.

Then Chernobyl happened. We were living in southern Germany downwind of that disaster. Our daughter was 11 months old and vulnerable. Unless you've lived this you cannot imagine what it is like to fear invisible radioactive fallout and the danger to your family. You keep your family inside, off the grass, out of the parks, away from pets, and you can't get information about the danger. We were lucky and were able to return to the US shortly after. But you never forget the experience.

And then Fukushima.

You get the idea. I don't want to hear any BS about how safe nuclear power is.

Or any BS about how clean it is. Uranium mining is not environmentally safe or clean and there is no clean way to dispose of nuclear waste.

I know there is a climate catastrophe in progress right now. I just don't believe we should be activating nuclear power stations to power AI or anything else.

[#]AI #Nuclear #Radioactive #Climate #Microsoft

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Toot

Written by AKingsbury on 2024-10-05 at 02:06

@patrick_townsend

I mean...statistically, it is remarkably safe. Safer than wind, safer than solar even. In terms of humans lives lost per amount of energy produced, nuclear is the safest form of energy on planet earth. You can deny that if you want, but it's objectively true.

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Descendants

Written by Patrick Townsend on 2024-10-06 at 00:42

@AlexanderKingsbury

Yes, I agree with the statistical point of view. No argument at all.

My concern is with the scope of the impact of a failure. The failure of a windmill has little impact on any living being and can be easily fixed. The failure of a nuclear reactor can be devastating to all living beings in the vicinity and poison a large area for thousands of years. This is the perspective that I think is missing in the safety discussion.

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Written by AKingsbury on 2024-10-06 at 00:57

@patrick_townsend

The failure of a windmill can and has had a catastrophic impact on living beings; humans, specifically. People can and have died in windmill accidents.

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