Comment on Phineas explains nuclear power (and how fear mongering ruined it)

Peanutbuttergrits@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• expr@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  It is very safe.

  • Chernobyl: was being used to create weapons-grade nuclear material (read: requires enrichment far, far beyond what’s needed for power generation), and the USSR had been shown to have cut many corners in its construction and ignored basically every safety measure imaginable. It didn’t even have a containment unit like every other reactor design (which is, you know, the exact thing that’s designed to prevent leaking radioactive material into the environment). It is not comparable to any other nuclear power plant and is completely irrelevant when discussing the safety of modern power generation from nuclear power plants.
  • Three Mile Island was successfully contained (no significant radiation was leaked into the environment), and significant changes were introduced to prevent such a thing from happening again (and, nothing like it has ever happened since). It is the most frequently misunderstood nuclear accident, because it had no actual impact on the surrounding population in terms of radiological exposure.
  • Fukushima, similarly to Three Mile Island, was successfully contained and did not result in radiological exposure of the surrounding population.

  The fact is that nuclear power generation is incredibly safe and has an incredible track record through decades of use. It is far, far safer for populations than fossil fuels (which are known to emit much, much more radiation into the atmosphere and cause a lot of cancer), and is much more capable for baseload electricity generation than wind, solar, etc.

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  • FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Let’s all take a minute to remember that Greenpeace was founded and funded by oil companies to spread propaganda directly opposite all these points. As you said, Chernobyl was the only one to actually impact surrounding populations and it was entirely due to the USSR cutting corners, not testing the emergency backup system properly, and trying to cover it all up before actually starting to clean up.

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