Are you going to say that the nuclear power plant is the worst choice here?
That is a thing I’ve never asserted. To restore my initial argument: the very same presence of nuclear power plants makes the world more fragile, because eliminating a percentage of the population (say, a third as with the Black Plague or 90% as with smallpox in South America) runs the risk of eliminating people who know how to run and maintain the plants, thereby creating multiple nuclear accidents.
eliminating a percentage of the population … thereby creating multiple nuclear accidents.
I would argue that if you suddenly lose something on the order of half your population, nuclear plant accidents are not going to be the thing you should worry about.
Besides, nuclear plants are over-engineered and have multiple automatic failsafe systems. If most of the humans stop coming, the reactors will shut down by themselves (or the remaining few humans will shut them down).
The only really big nuclear reactor accident (Chernobyl) happened because the operators deliberately disabled a whole lot of safety systems which got in the way of something they wanted to do.
The only really big nuclear reactor accident (Chernobyl)
The only? I’d agree that Three Mile Island was a minor case, but Fukushima was definitely severe. There were meltdowns and explosions (chemical, due to the hydrogen the high heat cracked off of the cooling water). It will cost billions over decades to clean it up.
Besides, nuclear plants are over-engineered and have multiple automatic failsafe systems.
Yes, I don’t expect this to be an issue in the event of a plague. Fukushima’s automated safety systems detected the earthquake and did SCRAM the reactor, but then a freaking tsunami destroyed the backup generators powering the cooling pumps before the fuel had time to cool down. Many Japanese died that day, but that was because of the water, not the uranium.
Nuclear meltdowns are disasters because they are expensive, not because they are deadly. The panic during the ensuing evacuation is probably the most dangerous part.
Eh, yes. “At potential risk” is very different from “human deaths due to”. The obligatory xkcd might be useful for you.
And how is this different from e.g. living in cities? That, too, puts you “at potential risk” and I’m sure there are very long term consequences.
Plus, the usual nirvana fallacy. Nuclear plants have downsides? Sure they do. But let’s do a proper comparison:
Nuclear power plant
Coal power plant
No power plant at all
Are you going to say that the nuclear power plant is the worst choice here?
That is a thing I’ve never asserted.
To restore my initial argument: the very same presence of nuclear power plants makes the world more fragile, because eliminating a percentage of the population (say, a third as with the Black Plague or 90% as with smallpox in South America) runs the risk of eliminating people who know how to run and maintain the plants, thereby creating multiple nuclear accidents.
I would argue that if you suddenly lose something on the order of half your population, nuclear plant accidents are not going to be the thing you should worry about.
Besides, nuclear plants are over-engineered and have multiple automatic failsafe systems. If most of the humans stop coming, the reactors will shut down by themselves (or the remaining few humans will shut them down).
The only really big nuclear reactor accident (Chernobyl) happened because the operators deliberately disabled a whole lot of safety systems which got in the way of something they wanted to do.
The only? I’d agree that Three Mile Island was a minor case, but Fukushima was definitely severe. There were meltdowns and explosions (chemical, due to the hydrogen the high heat cracked off of the cooling water). It will cost billions over decades to clean it up.
Yes, I don’t expect this to be an issue in the event of a plague. Fukushima’s automated safety systems detected the earthquake and did SCRAM the reactor, but then a freaking tsunami destroyed the backup generators powering the cooling pumps before the fuel had time to cool down. Many Japanese died that day, but that was because of the water, not the uranium.
Nuclear meltdowns are disasters because they are expensive, not because they are deadly. The panic during the ensuing evacuation is probably the most dangerous part.
That was caused by the fourth strongest earthquake in the world in half a century, so it’s not something you’d expect to happen particularly often.
Once every 12 years or so..? :-)
Once every 12 years or so somewhere in the world. Near enough a nuclear reactor to cause trouble, not so often.
Once per decade per planet (i.e. 2e-10/km²/yr) is “particularly often”?
I merely quantified your “not particularly often” :-)
In terms of money, yes, but in terms of lives lost, no.