Oct 21 09 Peace River Nuclear Debate pt 4

[megszoo]

So we will power electric cars from nuclear power? Okay.... that makes sense DERRRRRRRRRR

(not that electric cars are that great either,but)

[daves345]

I'm not really sure what you're arguing for, but anyway...

That idea makes perfect sense. Let me break it down for you:

Nuclear Reactor --> zero emission power delivered to homes --> plug electric cars in --> zero emission from cars.

There is currently R&D effort to make electric cars more effective.

[megszoo]

I was referring to electric cars that are recharging and getting their energy from coal. Personally I do not see the point in that.

Also I do not like all the risks associated with nuclear power. (water pollution,waste and contaimination, the risk of nuclear accident(s),earthquakes etc) We already use so much water in the tar sands. I think we need to focus on safe renewable sources of energy.

Although I do appreciate your calm and rational dialouge.

Peace!

[daves345]

I find that people usually do appreciate calmness and rationality. It makes for a better debate :)

Anyhow, it is true that there is risk:

Risk = Probability x Consequence

The consequences of nuclear accidents can be quite large and can't be changed. So this is why folks in the industry spend a lot of time minimizing the probability. The probabilities are kept low (typically around 1 event in several thousand years) by retaining multiple redundant safety systems. The risk isn't that high.

[daves345]

Now, I'm not sure about all this water pollution everyone seems so paranoid about. I don't know about your sources on this one... I will say that I don't know much about the nuclear waste management (NWM) side of things, but I do know more about the basics of regulation. The nuclear industry is probably the most highly regulated industry. If there were harmful amounts of waste emitted from a plant, the CNSC would be all over that before you blink. They'd shut the reactor down pretty fast.