To What Extent is Nuclear Power Safe?

just wondering what people think.


i think that it could be safe for now, but people will have to deal with the waste once the containers break apart. i dont think yucca mountain is a good solution to the storing of nuclear power. i do think that it would make power cheaper and it doesnt put green house gases into the atmosphere.

To What Extent is Nuclear Power Safe?
The amount of nuclear waste produced each year is profoundly miniscule , compared to the amounts of sulfur, nitrogen oxides, mercury, lead, fly ash, soot, CO2, aerosols, etc... produced by coal. For nuclear fuel, it's on the order of dozens of tons, for coal, it's on the order of BILLIONS of tons.





We don't level entire mountains to mine uranium.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPixjCnes...


(If you have Google Earth, take a look at West Virginia, over 250 mountains have been removed there to date)





If such waste were finely ground, and spread over the entire earth's surface, the increase in radioactivity would be almost undetectable. The same would be true if the radioactive elements where gradually dissolved in the earth's seas. (not that I'm suggesting it.....)





While the dangers of radioactivity are real, I think that when dealing with radiation you have to ask yourself "how much."





Even inside yucca mountain, the level of radiation is so low that the containers can be inspected in person with minimal protection. If one of the containers where to break open or leak, then there would be danger of course, but the facility is extremely well prepared to deal with something like that. An earthquake or cave in wouldn't be much of a problem, it would just permanently bury the containers.......





I also think that the public has a sensational, and wholly irrational fear of anything labeled "nuclear," or "radioactive."





It's worth nothing that air itself is radioactive, due to radioactive isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, argon, and naturally occurring radon. Human bodies also emit radioactivity due to the above....





Got to go now, but i could rant about this for hours,


~WOMBAT