Nuclear power is our only hope, or, the greatest environmentalist hypocrisy of all time

Nuclear power is our only hope, or, the greatest environmentalist hypocrisy of all timehttp://www.extremetech.com/extreme/147814-the-nuclear-power-vendetta-or-the-greatest-environmentalist-hypocrisy-of-all-time

In public opinion, nuclear power is a sort of super-fracking, a solution that spares the atmosphere at the expense of small geographic areas of contamination. The difference is that while hydraulic fracturing is always damaging to the environment, nuclear power is only harmful in the event of a catastrophe — and as we saw at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, such catastrophes are nearly impossible. While in no way besmirching the bravery of the men and women who worked to keep the reactor from an even bigger disaster, we ought all to appreciate the fact that it ultimately killed only two people, both by drowning. It was hit with a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a 14-meter wall of sea-water, and it stayed (barely) under control. The plant was 45 years old and rated against tsunami waves hardly a third the size of the one that hit Japan. All three reactors melted down, and the population in charge of stabilizing it was in the midst of a humanitarian crisis — and nobody died from radiation. Quite literally, it is difficult to imagine a worse scenario than Fukushima, up to and including the incompetence and neglect that caused the Chernobyl disaster.

The biggest and most reassuring advance in modern reactors — one that would have made even the partial failure at Fukushima Daiichi impossible — is the introduction of passive safety systems. The Fukushima reactor required the use of multiple diesel generators to power its coolant pumps, which is why it tried to go berserk when those generators were knocked out — a failure based on the decision to incorporate fossil fuels into the nuclear process.
Modern reactors, like the Westinghouse AP1000 require no outside power source for cooling, and bases most of its safety routines off of dependable, passive forces like gravity and the pressure exerted by a compressed gas. Combined with truly neurotic level of radiation shielding, staff safety routines, and redundant maintenance, and you’ve got very, very little cause for concern. Liquid fluoride thorium reactors also have potential.