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Nuclear Power Could See a Revival
shmG writes "As the US moves to reduce dependence on oil, the nuclear industry is looking to expand, with new designs making their way through the regulatory process. No less than three new configurations for nuclear power are being considered for licensing by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The first of them could be generating power in Georgia by 2016."
Nope
Chernobyl was caused by.
1. The fact that the reactor had a positive moderator temperature coefficient.
2. A lack of a containment building.
3. Turning off several safety systems and running a test that should have never been run.
So there is as much chance of seeing another Chernobyl as their is as seeing another Titanic. Actually as much chance as seeing a Titanic style accident involving a modern cruise ship on the Miami to Freeport run!
Anybody that brings up Chernobyl when talking about a modern reactor is simply spreading FUD.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I guess I was taking the post by Styopa more literally than others have.
Those (such, perhaps, as yourself) who have made the effort to contribute toward a realistic assessment of environmental impact can end up stopping power plants being built. And those who argued for increased standardisation in nuclear power plant design and maintenance were hardly "environmental wackjobs". Their argument has won out and we now have safer designs to show for it.
But those who make for the best news coverage and who end up being raised as a straw man to represent the opposition - the stereotypical smelly hippy who lies down in front of a bulldozer - are never lone effectors of change. I do, of course, understand their role in delaying while some other group completes a legal challenge.
It is about time to reverse Carter's directive. He made it to slow the spread of nuclear weapons, but considering the number of new entries to the "nuclear club" since then, we can now safely say it didn't work.