Comment 60988

By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted March 15, 2011 at 14:18:19

The nuclear reactors have maintained containment in spite of a disaster that killed over 10,000 people and destroyed entire cities.

As far as we knew, at least two days ago, we had not yet lost containment. It is now widely suspected that at least one reactor has or will.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pac...

And there is no offical word of a death toll anywhere near 10 000. Last I've seen it's climbed to a third of that. If we're going to lowball every estimate of death tolls from nuclear power, then lets not assume the worst everywhere else. That's exactly how people come to conclusions like "nuclear power kills less people than solar". How are those statistics arrived at? Do they take into account the concequences of uranium mining and processing (knowing many oncologists, I've heard many a story about cancer-rate cover-ups)? Increased risks of nuclear proliferation? Long-term risks of nuclear waste? Do they assume, like many lately, that Chernobyl only actually killed fifty-something people?

Through normal operation, many coal plants do kill far more people than nuclear, and also emit a fair amount of radiation. But that is true among very easily quantifiable numbers, and it's true only if nuclear plants perform as intended and claimed. It's like cigarettes and handguns. Cigarettes harm you every time you use them, but a handgun only has to do it once.

Could it be worse? Yes. But it could always be worse. That doesn't prove that it's "ok". We won't know that it's ok until we've seen serious evidence in peer-reviewed journals from those without obvious conflicts of interest. Much of the data needed won't even be available for years to come (health studies of the children of pregnant mothers in the area, etc).

The workers on site at the plant better get statues. They're the heroes here.

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