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yet another fossil fuel disaster, this time in the uk - filth pumped into atmosphere, but is it worse than chernobyl?
The fossil oil industry is casual beyond belief, and have got away with low standards for far too long. They are also immensely wealthy and, like the tobacco industry, spread false ‘information’ and bribes around the planet. Nuclear power is probably safer even than wind or photovoltaic power. The levels of safety demanded over nuclear matters is vastly higher than other levels of safety, often far far above reason. Even with the idiocy of socialism in the Soviet block, it would be difficult to make the case that damage from nuclear disasters is far worse, however much the iconic case of Chernobyl is wheeled out. I’ll make a wager that more people died in filthy fossil fuel industry disasters in every year in the Socialist Soviet Union than all deaths accumulated from Chernobyl, and that despite the idiotic handling of the health issue after the Chernobyl mess, being a main cause of Chernobyl problems. In socialist China, 5-10,000 a year are dying just in coal mining. The pollution is also a vast and major killer. The accident at Chernobyl was a one-off, and in the habitual context of a socialist state. The plant did not even have containment, and such a mess was not repeated elsewhere. Further, the deaths from Chernobyl are minute when compared with the filthy fossil fuel industry. I have read dozens of ‘reports’, listened to lectures and even read the odd book on the Chernobyl disaster. Most of it is emotionalism. The deaths from Chernobyl are probably rather low (in the approximate region of a hundred). It has probably shortened some lives, but it is nearly impossible to assess how many. The life expectancy in the ex-USSR is pretty poor anyway. The Soviet Communists have left vast problems of pollution which is, doubtless, shortening lives. Chernobyl is just one such (limited) example. From memory, there is some problem in an area around Kiev and in poor lands in Belarus. Interestingly, the health of wild life in the area around Kiev (the highest hit area - the no-go area) was reported recently as better than in control areas. The ‘big Chernobyl’ nonsense is mostly hype and propaganda. Cancer dangers are more likely from food and cigarettes than radiation. In Western society, approximately a third of cancer deaths are from food and a third from smoking. Of course, we could stop eating! In comparison with the power capacity of nuclear, the capacity of windmills and photovoltaic are such that vast amounts have to be manufactured. Furthermore, they will take up huge land areas. Windmills and photovoltaic are, of course, much safer than the filthy fossil fuel industry. However, they are less safe than nuclear, by virtue of the great safety of the nuclear industry. But maybe some idiots will fall off roofs installing PV arrays, or be hurt mining or machining the metals for windmills and erecting and servicing them. The same is probable in the transportation of coal and burning at coal-fired power stations. It is essential for proper comparisons to relativize safety figures to power produced. The standards in the nuclear industry are vastly higher than those for fossil fuels, and the pollution is vastly lower. Nuclear power is probably safer even than wind or photovoltaic power. It is very difficult to keep up with the damage done around the world by the filthy fossil fuel industry and the millions it kills year. A great deal of the time you do not hear about the disasters, the disasters are around the world every day and ongoing:
And look at the mountain leveling activity and the river destruction by the coal industry right now. Large swathes of coal mining areas were covered in spoil heaps, plagued by subsidence. Silicosis killed in the hundreds of thousands, the awareness of the levels of health problems from air pollution is still growing. Even now in China, there are assessments going on to see how much uranium can be recovered from fly ash from coal burning power stations. I have no doubt that miners are more subject to radiation than is common or would be tolerated in the nuclear industry. Nuclear power is far safer, it could hardly be otherwise when the amount of power produced can be a million or more times greater than from filthy fossil fuels. Chernobyl is just a boo word to scare the children and keep out the main competition. related material |
