Energy is dangerous: A five pound rock four feet above the ground (twenty foot pounds) can break your toes if it falls on them.
More concentrated energy is more dangerous: The same rock 106 feet above the ground can break your head (roughly 500 foot pounds).
Gasoline can explode. Lithium batteries can catch fire. The more we concentrate energy into tiny spaces, the more dangerous it gets. We compromise between safety (low energy density) and convenience (high energy density).
Nuclear energy is pretty dense. It's pretty dangerous. We compensate by building safety around the reactors - so much that most of them are not at all portable (exceptions being the ones on ships and satellites).
Considering the accidents we've had, I think nuclear energy has been pretty safe. There have been explosions at coal-fired plants. There have been dambreaks. These are the risks of concentrated energy.
I live in Illinois - the state where the Manhattan Project began and the state that has more nuclear power plants than any other.
I have picnicked with my family at Red Gate Woods, where two sites contain the remains of research reactors from the Manhattan Project (I discovered this when I stumbled upon one of these while walking in the woods).
I have lived in West Chicago, site of a cleanup of radioactive thorium left behind by the manufacture of lantern mantles.
I live within the evacuation area for the Dresden plant - the site of the first commercial nuclear power reactor - also the first commercial nuclear power reactor to be shut down (and it was due to problems with the reactor). I have camped in the shadow of the Zion (now shut down) and Byron nuclear power plants.
For the first few years in our new home, we drank and bathed in water with radium levels in violation of EPA standards.
I work just north of Argonne Laboratories, which contains several research reactors.
A friend of mine is a pastor in Ottawa Illinois: the site of the Luminous Dial Company, where many women developed cancer as a result of painting numbers on clocks using radium-based paint.
I have visited all of these sites and more in setting up a motorcycle rally (called "Glow in the Dark").
Here's my take:
I'm not "No Nukes Anywhere" (NNA). I'm also (clearly) not "Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBY).
My position, as a Christian, is "Not In Someone Else's Back Yard If Not In My Back Yard" (NISEBYINIMBY). OK, it's a lousy acronym, but my point is this: "If I won't accept it where I live, I should not accept it where someone else lives". This is pretty simple to extrapolate from Jesus' teachings.
Those who desire nuclear plants(and coal-burning plants, and dams, etc. ad nauseum) should desire them near their home, work, and the schools and parks where their children play. These things will inevitably be near someone's home, work, and the schools and parks where their children play, as someone will work there and have a family.
More concentrated energy is more dangerous: The same rock 106 feet above the ground can break your head (roughly 500 foot pounds).
Gasoline can explode. Lithium batteries can catch fire. The more we concentrate energy into tiny spaces, the more dangerous it gets. We compromise between safety (low energy density) and convenience (high energy density).
Nuclear energy is pretty dense. It's pretty dangerous. We compensate by building safety around the reactors - so much that most of them are not at all portable (exceptions being the ones on ships and satellites).
Considering the accidents we've had, I think nuclear energy has been pretty safe. There have been explosions at coal-fired plants. There have been dambreaks. These are the risks of concentrated energy.
I live in Illinois - the state where the Manhattan Project began and the state that has more nuclear power plants than any other.
I have picnicked with my family at Red Gate Woods, where two sites contain the remains of research reactors from the Manhattan Project (I discovered this when I stumbled upon one of these while walking in the woods).
I have lived in West Chicago, site of a cleanup of radioactive thorium left behind by the manufacture of lantern mantles.
I live within the evacuation area for the Dresden plant - the site of the first commercial nuclear power reactor - also the first commercial nuclear power reactor to be shut down (and it was due to problems with the reactor). I have camped in the shadow of the Zion (now shut down) and Byron nuclear power plants.
For the first few years in our new home, we drank and bathed in water with radium levels in violation of EPA standards.
I work just north of Argonne Laboratories, which contains several research reactors.
A friend of mine is a pastor in Ottawa Illinois: the site of the Luminous Dial Company, where many women developed cancer as a result of painting numbers on clocks using radium-based paint.
I have visited all of these sites and more in setting up a motorcycle rally (called "Glow in the Dark").
Here's my take:
I'm not "No Nukes Anywhere" (NNA). I'm also (clearly) not "Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBY).
My position, as a Christian, is "Not In Someone Else's Back Yard If Not In My Back Yard" (NISEBYINIMBY). OK, it's a lousy acronym, but my point is this: "If I won't accept it where I live, I should not accept it where someone else lives". This is pretty simple to extrapolate from Jesus' teachings.
Those who desire nuclear plants(and coal-burning plants, and dams, etc. ad nauseum) should desire them near their home, work, and the schools and parks where their children play. These things will inevitably be near someone's home, work, and the schools and parks where their children play, as someone will work there and have a family.
