Fukushima disaster.

[OdinYggd]

Fukushima isn't closed loop yet- thus the accumulation of tanks full of contaminated water.

Although they can keep it full of water, the water is constantly leaking out and has to be replaced, with the contaminated water that was removed being stored in the tanks outside confinement- where it is escaping and causing an environmental hazard.

[lajoswinkler]

I doubt they could keep an open loop for such a long time. The amount of heavily contaminated water would be incredible.

As I've heard, they have removed the sea long time ago and now use pure water. The only opened part is where the stuff leaks, and that's being stored and fresh pure water is added into the loop.

[Drunken Hobo]

What people tend to miss in this debate is that 18,000+ people were killed by the tsunami. Not one by radiation. Whilst arguments for better defences at Fukushima are valid, I think arguments for better defences around Japanese coastal towns are far more pressing.

I also don't get why the nuclear industry gets such a hard time compared to other industries, particularly oil/fossil fuels (or rather, why they get such an easy time). Hundreds of thousands of people each year die because of poor air quality in large cities, mostly from fossil fuel products. But nobody cares.

Even something like that rail crash in Canada. A train carrying crude oil crashes & explodes, killing 47 people and nobody blames oil. Imagine the reaction if it had been carrying spent nuclear waste & 47 people died from radiation exposure. There'd be worldwide protests, countries abandoning nuclear & huge scare stories on every newspaper.

People also mention the cost of nuclear cleanup & decommissioning, but imagine the cost of fossil fuels if they weren't allowed to vent all of their waste products into the atmosphere...

[Seret]

I also don't get why the nuclear industry gets such a hard time compared to other industries, particularly oil/fossil fuels (or rather, why they get such an easy time). Hundreds of thousands of people each year die because of poor air quality in large cities, mostly from fossil fuel products. But nobody cares.

Very true. The problem is that humans are rubbish at accurately assessing risk. Our judgement of risk aren't based on anything rational, they're largely emotional. We perceive risks that are commonplace to be lower than those which are exotic. That's why we incorrectly judge flying to be more dangerous than driving, or nuclear power to be more risky than oil and coal.

Proper risk assessment based on actual data turns up a lot of stuff that runs contrary to what public opinion is, which can be a real problem for policymakers. Recently here in the UK a government scientist was savaged in the press and forced to resign for pointing out the perfectly accurate fact that using the drug ecstasy for your weekend recreation was statistically less risky than going horse riding.

[drakesdoom]

Very true. The problem is that humans are rubbish at accurately assessing risk. Our judgement of risk aren't based on anything rational, they're largely emotional. We perceive risks that are commonplace to be lower than those which are exotic. That's why we incorrectly judge flying to be more dangerous than driving, or nuclear power to be more risky than oil and coal.

Proper risk assessment based on actual data turns up a lot of stuff that runs contrary to what public opinion is, which can be a real problem for policymakers. Recently here in the UK a government scientist was savaged in the press and forced to resign for pointing out the perfectly accurate fact that using the drug ecstasy for your weekend recreation was statistically less risky than going horse riding.

Horse riding? Horse Riding??? BLOODY HORSE RIDING???

Have you completely lost your marbles, been to long in the sun, sniffing some funny gas? I mean if you want to do something so bloody dangerous as horse riding why not just jump off the cliffs of Dover? Wait, let me guess, you were going to drive there too weren't you?

Frankly no one in the developed world should be given any head when discussing risk because the biggest risk they face in life is that the sheets on their deathbed wont match the drapes.