[meteorite-list] OT: RISKS OF NUCLEAR POWER

From: Mark's Meteorites <mark_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2011 09:38:42 +0000
Message-ID: <0FF357CC-6192-4694-9979-206FE44120A5_at_meteorites.cc>

Decent article here by George Monbiot:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/mar/16/japan-nuclear-crisis-atomic-energy

Links to the latest UN report which estimates total deaths attributable to Chernobyl as... 43:

http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/pressrels/2011/unisinf398.html

M
On 17 Mar 2011, at 09:28, Count Deiro wrote:

> Excellent exposition, Sterling. I trust you will forgive me if I plagerize and use the data in an upcoming symposium. No profit to me and I will attribute.
>
> I'm sure that your ear to the track picked up the release yesterday that the Surgeon General's actuarials have increased the life span for males in the United States to 78 years and females at 81. So, I can expect, if I stay straight, to see another four summers.
>
> Speaking of the Surgeon General...she famously got it wrong during a national press conference yeaterday by stating " we could stock up on IODIDE crystals." Makes me shudder.
>
> Kudos,
>
> Guido
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "Sterling K. Webb" <sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net>
>> Sent: Mar 16, 2011 10:38 PM
>> To: Meteorite List <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] OT: RISKS OF NUCLEAR POWER
>>
>> List,
>>
>> We are invariably abnormally impressed by the
>> sudden occurrence of a rare, high-risk event.
>> We do not appraise them in a strictly rational
>> manner when this happens.
>>
>> The current application of fear caused by a very
>> rare event, as we see in Japan, is weighted heavily.
>> For those interested in the actual data, the human
>> cost, in lives, of the various means of electric power
>> production are listed below.
>>
>> Deaths are for the period 1970 through 1992, the
>> only period for which data could be collected for all
>> the means of production.
>>
>> All deaths are "immediate" deaths, and the figures
>> are on a worldwide basis, which includes countries
>> with less stringent industrial safety requirements
>> than the U.S. This is the picture for the Planet.
>>
>> Hydroelectric production accounted for roughly 4000
>> deaths, of members of the public, or 883 deaths per
>> terawatt-year. The vast majority of those deaths were
>> from the failure of dams and impoundments.
>>
>> Coal power production produced about 6400 deaths,
>> all of workers, for a death rate of 342 deaths per
>> terawatt-year. (Deaths from the mining of coal are
>> included in proportion to the use of coal in direct
>> power production.)
>>
>> Natural Gas power production resulted in some
>> 1200 deaths, of both industry workers and the
>> general public, for 85 deaths per terawatt-year.
>>
>> Nuclear Power resulted in 31 deaths, all of workers,
>> for a total of 8 deaths per terawatt-year, or 1%
>> of the deaths from "safe" environmentally friendly
>> hydroelectric power.
>>
>> The "other fuel," petroleum, is rarely used for power
>> production but largely for transportation. How deadly,
>> in these terms, is our transportation power use in
>> cars and trucks as compared to the cost in life of
>> power production?
>>
>> The U.S. consumed 0.138 teragallons of gasoline
>> on 2009 (at 4.175 watt-years per gallon), with a
>> total energy content of a "mere" 0.576 terawatt-years.
>> Highway deaths in 2009 were 33,963, which yields
>> 58,943 deaths per terawatt-year of power consumed.
>>
>> Clearly, the use of this power source for transport
>> is many orders of magnitude more dangerous than
>> the production of electrical power, however it is
>> accomplished. Our reaction to this horrendous
>> risk is to complain about how much it costs us to
>> fill'er up.
>>
>> Humans are not rational animals.
>>
>> The reduction in overall life expectancy in the
>> U.S. due to nuclear power production is one-third
>> of the reduction in life expectancy caused by eating
>> 8 ounces. of charcoal-broiled steak per week.
>>
>> Make mine medium-rare, please.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sterling K. Webb
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
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Received on Thu 17 Mar 2011 05:38:42 AM PDT