Lowering Nuclear Safety and Financial Risks

Lowering Nuclear Safety and Financial Risks

from The Nuclear Green Revolution by Charles Barton

Although Conventional Nuclear Power Plants are not without their safety risks, they safer than coal and natural gas fired power plants, and safer than solar and wind electrical generation systems. It is very telling that the two likely deaths associated with the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident can be attributed the tsunami, not to the subsequent reactor break down/meltdown. There have been a number of injuries, illnesses of staff, and radiation exposures, but to date there have been no deaths due to Dai-ichi reactor malfunction. In fact including the Daiichi fatalities with the Chernobyl fatalities, Brian Wang's argument still holds, Rooftop solar power is more dangerous than Chernobyl. This is a stark contrast to the thousands of deaths. For example in discussing TVA's Watts Bar Nuclear installation, the UCS Ed Lyman said that a nuclear accident there would lead to

"A release of radioactive material to the environment, leading to the potential for hundreds or thousands of deaths from radiation poisoning and potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of cancer deaths over the long term."

Indeed Lyman argued that an accident at the Indian Point nuclear plant could kill over 40,000 people quickly, and hundreds of thousands more by a slow and painful death due to radiation caused cancer. Thus the magnitude of Lyman's expectations must be compared to the reality of the Japanese experience. Japanese deaths on March 11, 2011 were due to a natural disaster and not a human caused disaster.
Continue:
http://nucleargreen.blogspot.com/2011/04/lowering-nuclear-safety-and-financial.html