Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Radioactive Wild Boars Still Roaming the Forests of Germany

Posted by samzenpus on from the regenerating-bacon dept.

An anonymous reader writes 28 years after the Chernobyl accident, tests have found that more than one in three Saxony boars give off such high levels of radiation that they are unfit for consumption. In 2009 almost €425,000 ($555,000) was paid out to hunters in compensation for wild boar meat that was too contaminated to be sold. "It doesn't cover the loss from game sales, but at least it covers the cost of disposal," says Steffen Richter, the head of the Saxon State Hunters Association.

5 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. For a country so good at engineering... by Viol8 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    ... they have a very backwards, almost medieval view of anything nuclear.

    Also I'm sure that idiot Merkel decided to close all their nuclear power stations because she thought they'd get nice cheap gas from russia. Hmm, wonder how thats working out for her now...

    1. Re:For a country so good at engineering... by GarethIwanFairclough · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Also I'm sure that idiot Merkel decided to close all their nuclear power stations because she thought they'd get nice cheap gas from russia. Hmm, wonder how thats working out for her now...

      At the peak, German nuclear generation was 133 TWh in 2011. Since then, German renewables generation has grown from 47 TWh/year to 178 TWh/year, Germany can now meet demand without any nuclear and without additional gas imports.

      I'm sorry the facts broke your narrative.

      Why do I get this funny feeling that the "178 TWh/year" figure is from the rated capacity factors and not the actual production?

    2. Re:For a country so good at engineering... by ericloewe · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Simple: does not have half a brain.

      An engineer doesn't say "can't be done" (unless the laws of physics would be broken) - the real answer is "There are problems X, Y and Z that require research and development."

      "Renewables" is typical green bullshit. Anything other than solar panels on rooftops and/or exposed surfaces will have a direct environmental impact (let's not even talk about manufacturing, since that inevitably improves and becomes more efficient).
      Wind turbines kill birds.
      Insanely large solar farms are insanely large, possibly destroying local ecosystems (focused solar arrays also have the heat ray of death problem, but photovoltaics should be ok).
      Dams also harm local ecosystems.

      So, right now, we have a pipe dream. Yes, it makes sense to deploy renewables, particularly small-scale solar (surface is already there, might as well use it) and hydroelectric (excellent way to store energy for when it's needed). Anyone who truly believes these can replace everything else is living in a fantasy world.

      So, in the end, the choice is:

      Do you want nuclear power or do you want fossil fuels?

  2. Re:Interesting line from TFA: by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems odd that the pigs are too irradiated to eat but seem to thrive and breed just fine.

    Most people these days prefer to live a good deal longer than their earliest possible breeding time.

  3. Re:Interesting line from TFA: by the_other_chewey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    North Italy, Austria and then south Germany where the first regions hit by the Chernobyl explosion.

    Don't quote me on that, but I'm decently sure that Chernobyl (and Pripyat) were the first regions hit by the Chernobyl explosion...