BREAKING NEWS: NUCLEAR ACCIDENT JUST UPGRADED TO LEVEL 6, out of 7.

bearice · Mar 16, 2011

In the US, while the coal and gas electricity industry is projected to be worth $85 billion by 2013, nuclear power generators are forecast to be worth $18 billion.

Will 3/11 tragedy put breaks on new nuclear plants in US? Please vote here.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=217103

blnbr · Mar 16, 2011

How does this Nuclear power plant accident compare to the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945? Which had more damage to the environment?

wee man · Mar 16, 2011

Quote from blnbr:

How does this Nuclear power plant accident compare to the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945? Which had more damage to the environment?

Maybe the OP/Cyborg (or his old man) could offer his expert opinion on that excellent point?

AK100 · Mar 16, 2011

Nuclear power isn't going anywhere for one simple reason - it's an alternative to other fossil fuel energy. In fact for many countries it's THE only option.

It's a simple question. Do you want 24 hour energy in the future or do you want rolling power cuts in many parts of the western world?

If you're happy with rolling powercuts and what that will mean -

No charging of mobile phones so many of you won't be able to send 1001 usuless texts every day.

No more 24 hour celebrity news so you won't be able to debate the merits and 'meaning' of Brittney's new tattoo.

No microwave meals which means you won't be able to sit in front of the box watching said celebrity shows AND you'll no doubt miss the next talent show on TV.

No internet porn unless you've got a laptop with a long battery life.

You see it's not the educated that will demand nuclear power it's the great unwashed and take away their phones, TV and microwave meals and you've got riots.

There is no alternative which is why Nuclear is only going to get bigger from here in out, Japan or no Japan.........

jnbadger · Mar 16, 2011

Quote from AK100:

No more 24 hour celebrity news so you won't be able to debate the merits and 'meaning' of Brittney's new tattoo.

No internet porn unless you've got a laptop with a long battery life.

Dammit!

Grandluxe · Mar 16, 2011

Quote from wee man:

.... could offer his expert opinion on that excellent point?

Reactors contain years worth of uranium fuel. Nuclear bombs contain a lot of nuclear fuel too but it's almost entirely consumed in producing the explosion, bomb fallout is actually stuff like bomb casing material and dirt and building debris that is irradiated by the gamma wave blast. It's pretty radiaoactive for a while but is gone after a few months. A nuclear reactor meltdown wouldn't consume the nuclear fuel, so the area around it would be poisoned for centuries by a large amount of long half-life radioactive material.

Hope this helps.

benwm · Mar 16, 2011

Quote from AK100:

No internet porn unless you've got a laptop with a long battery life.

I don' think I'll need much of a battery life on mine, it's usually a pretty quick operation.

I guess the multi monitors will have to go though.

blnbr · Mar 16, 2011

Quote from Grandluxe:

Reactors contain years worth of uranium fuel. Nuclear bombs contain a lot of nuclear fuel too but it's almost entirely consumed in producing the explosion, bomb fallout is actually stuff like bomb casing material and dirt and building debris that is irradiated by the gamma wave blast. It's pretty radiaoactive for a while but is gone after a few months. A nuclear reactor meltdown wouldn't consume the nuclear fuel, so the area around it would be poisoned for centuries by a large amount of long half-life radioactive material.

Hope this helps.

I just googled the info for the area of Chernobyl Ukraine and learned that it still remains empty and uninhabitable 25 years later today. The Japanese seem to face a similar situation for the disaster.

dcraig · Mar 16, 2011

Quote from blnbr:

I just googled the info for the area of Chernobyl Ukraine and learned that it still remains empty and uninhabitable 25 years later today. The Japanese seem to face a similar situation for the disaster.

Not as yet and quite possibly not at all.

GTS · Mar 16, 2011

Quote from blnbr:

I just googled the info for the area of Chernobyl Ukraine and learned that it still remains empty and uninhabitable 25 years later today. The Japanese seem to face a similar situation for the disaster.

Remember that Chernobyl violently exploded after going critical so there is a big difference. If this thing doesn't explode and they can just get it to the point that they can entomb it with concrete I don't think it would result in a large uninhabitable area.... of course this isn't over yet.

Quoting from the Chernobyl Wiki page

A second, more powerful explosion occurred about two or three seconds after the first; evidence indicates that the second explosion resulted from a nuclear excursion. The nuclear excursion dispersed the core and effectively terminated that phase of the event. However, the graphite fire continued, greatly contributing to the spread of radioactive material and the contamination of outlying areas.