Radiation Fallout Warning Issued For US 3/13/2011

[Alf S.]

Hi: All...It seems to me that everything we humans do has "Fallout"!!! All groups, whether Big Nuke, Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Solar, or Big Wind have their own agendas. "You're either for us or against us", and they'll spare no ponies in telling you so. At least the glassers are for the most part minimalistic in their expectations. We all try to get by whether your pluged in or not!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[peterh]

Wind turbines kill flying animals (particularly bats) and can hum in the wind. Hydro dams kill fish, flood valuable real estate, and cause huge devastation when they fail. Coal fired plants cause environmental damage where the coal is mined and in toxic compounds and carbon emissions, and cause haze that reduce visibility. Photovoltaic solar panels manufacture produces chemical wastes and the metals in them have to be mined, too. There is no perfectly safe, completely environmentally friendly technology.

If we decided to set our house up to exist off-grid, we'd likely install solar panels on the south-facing roof, add a windmill or two to our roof line, and install a bank of batteries in the crawl-space to store energy. We'd also likely change some of my home wiring to take advantage of low-energy LED lights and my DC battery power source. I have gas heating, so we'd need to convert that to propane.

Even with all these changes we'd still have to re-think some of my lifestyle choices. The hot tub would probably have to go. We'd need to be more judicious about what lights we leave on, like the lights we have that come on automatically after dark. We might need to hand-wash our dishes sometimes, turn-off and un-plug more things when they're not actively being used, and not leave the TV on as much.

Mind you, a lot of these things are stuff we could do without going to solar and wind. I like my hot tub, and feel safer in our home with the lights that come on in the hallway and living room when night falls. The price of these things is needing to buy electricity, and that electricity has to come from somewhere.

I won't judge modern nuclear power plants based on the events in Japan. Those reactors were designed and built in the 1960s, and struck by both an 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that wiped out many of their support buildings. My hope is that future US power plants will be built using "inherently safe" designs that rely on the forces of nature to keep the plant safe and stable instead of external power sources and cooling water to remain safe in an emergerncy.

Would such a system be perfect? No . . . but I think it's safer than coal, which is what provides the majority of electric power here.

[Greg H]

Ok, Bats should have eyes, everything kills fish, coal is nasty from start to finish, there are probably as many chemicals in Diet Pepsi. I'm kinda messing with you, but I do live off grid kinda sorta, you could put a solar hot water heater on your roof and keep the hot tub but you may have to eat a lot of beans to get the bubbles. And the Nukes use a very large amount of liquid Chlorine to clean up that cooling water.

[peterh]

Originally Posted by Greg H

. . . you may have to eat a lot of beans to get the bubbles . . .

And to think I was worried about "haze" from coal-fired power plants!

[honda03842]

• Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation
  
• Imbalance? 'Thousands of people are feared dead. Tens of thousands are missing... But the story that has dominated the news is the loss of control of two reactors...But the accident has so far caused only 15 injuries, just one of which appears to be serious, and a handful of suspected cases of exposure to radiation, none of which appear to be serious'

If you want to understand the technical side, here's a link.

Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation « BraveNewClimate

Norm

[Ken C]

Another view of the site linked above Here

[Greg H]

It takes awhile to start glowing! Wait a few years then check back with them.

[Peter_Crowl]

This seems promising
Bill Gates Invests Millions in Nuclear Power : Discovery News

[jen b]

Originally Posted by honda03842

• Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation
  
• Imbalance? 'Thousands of people are feared dead. Tens of thousands are missing... But the story that has dominated the news is the loss of control of two reactors...But the accident has so far caused only 15 injuries, just one of which appears to be serious, and a handful of suspected cases of exposure to radiation, none of which appear to be serious'

If you want to understand the technical side, here's a link.

Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation « BraveNewClimate

Norm

I might suggest taking a heavy dose of skepticism into reading the Oehman piece. A friend sent it to me today and it struck me as a bit off, and when I looked into who the guy is, I learned what I guess everybody else has figured out today, that he has no particular expertise in the matter, and that the information is in any case already out of date, since his pooh poohing of any chance of a radiation release is kind of a moot point now.