Chernobyl - Nuclear Disaster

[wings_of_fire]

According to the documentary the nuclear clouds of Chernobyl settled over most of Europe.

I was unaware until now, of what exactly nuclear radiation is capable of doing to a biological being...Bone marrow disintegration, Flesh getting eaten up from the outside until it reaches the bones and all this within hours of strong radiation.

When I came to know about groups or governments protesting against the use of nuclear energy, I pretty much felt like they are hindering humanities progress. I was wrong to think that way. They do know how serious problem nuclear disaster can bring to everyone and one accident of Chernobyl was enough to teach that.

[ittybitty]

BUT...nuclear energy is still the cleanest and I'd have to argue the safest of all other sources we currently use...with the exception of windmills and solar panels of course...but they aren't even in the same game.

From some website:

"There have been three major reactor accidents in the history of civil nuclear power - Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima. One was contained without harm to anyone, the next involved an intense fire without provision for containment, and the third severely tested the containment, allowing some release of radioactivity. These are the only major accidents to have occurred in over 15,000 cumulative reactor-years of commercial nuclear power operation in 33 countries. The evidence over six decades shows that nuclear power is a safe means of generating electricity. The risk of accidents in nuclear power plants is low and declining. The consequences of an accident or terrorist attack are minimal compared with other commonly accepted risks. Radiological effects on people of any radioactive releases can be avoided."

On a side note...my step father is a nuclear engineer by profession and actually spent some time working near Chernobyl with a company that had developed a magnetic separation process for cleaning dairy milk. Of course the process could be adapted to pretty much any liquid, but it was a really interesting process to learn about. They basically bound specific compounds to the magnetic particles that would bind with the radioactive compounds in the dairy milk...which gets there because the cows are eating contaminated pastures...then they would pass the milk with the particles through a high powered electro magnet to extract the particles with clean milk being the end product. The magnetic particles were reusable...and the entire work station was built into a semi trailer for portability.

[wings_of_fire]

Originally Posted by ittybitty

BUT...nuclear energy is still the cleanest and I'd have to argue the safest of all other sources we currently use.

Nuclear energy can be safe until the man made stuff is working according to the process plan. If an earthquake or other natural disaster strikes a plant I wonder how safe it will be.

The problem is it affects our genes! And these genes get built up over millions of years of evolution. Its like a virus ruining your operating system... only issue is that it cannot be reinstalled.

[Dostradamas]

Originally Posted by wings_of_fire

The problem is it affects our genes! And these genes get built up over millions of years of evolution. Its like a virus ruining your operating system... only issue is that it cannot be reinstalled.

Bah little fish.
Here in America Women have been flushing synthetic estrogen (birth control pills) down into our sewer system for 50 years. This stuff does not biodegrade, it also passes right through our water treatment plants & the levels in our groundwater just keep increasing.

Genetic trouble, how about every man, woman, & child in America that drinks water?

http://scientiareview.org/pdfs/169.pdf

[GRIMGREG]

There is no progress without a bit of failure, and most of the time something new is learned or created from that failure. We might have never learned of radiation "eating" fungi if it wasn't for Chernobyl.

Chernobyl Fungus Feeds On Radiation

[Szczerba]

there are some recent documentaries of the wildlife that is back in the area as well, especially the wolves.

[The Violator]

I agree Nuclear power is a gamble, but until Solar gets about 100x more efficient, we are going to need something. Unless a power plant pops off and kills a million people here in America, it will be business as usual. Palo Verde near Phoenix, or the now defunct San Onofre that sits right on the highway near San Diego. If that place had an accident on the level of Chernobyl, I would venture to say several million people would be exposed.


Nuclear power is like juggling razor sharp knives. As long as everything goes as planned, its neat. And when it does not, it goes bad in a big way. Really they should be built in very remote locations, but logistically it is tough. And because the tree huggers want us living in caves, without caves, and power it is tough to build any kind of power plant.

Solar and wind kill birds, natural gas and coal spit carbon. Hydro kills fish. Nuclear wipes out entire areas for a million years. Really makes a dead bird or fish seem like a winning proposition.

[The Violator]

Originally Posted by Szczerba

there are some recent documentaries of the wildlife that is back in the area as well, especially the wolves.

It is only humans who are not going to do well there. Always reminds me of this:

[JeremyH]

The reason the problems from Chernobyl were so bad is because the Russian government refused information to be leaked to the public. They did not announce the accident until a WEEK after it happened! It was at that time that they evacuated the city and told the rest of the world what happened. The radiation wasn't the problem in this issue...Russia was.

[ROWDY RACING]

[2JSC]

I'm waiting for the day that Fusion reactors outnumber typical Fission ones.

[wings_of_fire]

Originally Posted by Dostradamas

http://scientiareview.org/pdfs/169.pdf

Wow! Inventions that are making our lives easier, are having some kind of boomerang effect attached to them.

This is only estrogen and its effects. Can you imagine what those industrial chemicals that get into the water might be doing to our body?

The unseen price that we are paying to live in this century of easy life, is way to high.

[vonclod]

I think Fukushima is to some degree a continuing event..i dont think its really over or safe.

[Dostradamas]

Originally Posted by wings_of_fire

Wow! Inventions that are making our lives easier, are having some kind of boomerang effect attached to them.

This is only estrogen and its effects. Can you imagine what those industrial chemicals that get into the water might be doing to our body?

The unseen price that we are paying to live in this century of easy life, is way to high.

I don't worry about 95% of the crap I think about 100% of the time.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

[4wd4ws]

Amen.

[Corrupt]

Humans are scared of what they don't know. Go out in the street and ask a normal person what they think about when they hear "Nuclear". Death, chaos, science..

It is an effective means of getting energy. Problem is the whole "NIMBY" (Not In My Back Yard). People want the energy! But they don't want to be near it when and if something goes wrong. Double edged sword.

-Corrupt