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dpb dpb is offline
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Default Safety of Nuke Power

dpb wrote:
wrote:
...

you know if it werent for 3 mile island, nuke power would be much more
common today.


True, but the reaction was hysteria from folks like you, not from any
reasoned evaluation of the consequences.

....

I should also point out that the trend had already begun well before TMI
and the conclusion was already foregone -- TMI simply was the final
chapter in the story at the time.

The incessant harping on negatives by the anti-nuke activists and the
antagonism in the Carter Administration combined with the ability of the
environmentalists to wreak havoc in the licensing process by the misuse
of EPA and other subterfuges were sufficient impediments to the
economics to make the utilities look for either postponing expansion or
more expedient-at-the-time alternatives. Add into the mix, of course,
the cost of money owing to the out-of-control inflation at the time.

That short-sighted handling of circumstances led to where we are now --
massive reliance on what has now become very expensive natural-gas fired
units, old coal-fired units still on line 20-30 years after they would
have otherwise been retired in favor of cheaper and cleaner units (both
fossil- and nuclear-powered) and no comprehensive energy policy to this
day other than avoidance of the inevitable for the short-term.

All in all, not at all a good legacy for those on that side to look back on.

Irrational discussion of stuff as you posit here doesn't advance the
cause, either, so in many respects we're no better off after 30 years.

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