Re: Nuclear scaremonger article of the day
Posted by Dale on Mar 21, 2002 at 09:39
(204.212.212.54)Re: Nuclear scaremonger article of the day (bobbapink)
“Experts point to a 1982 Department of Energy full-scale test at Sandia National Laboratories in which an explosive charge put a 6-inch hole in a waste container. If the test container had been hauling real radioactive waste, up to seven people could have died from cancer caused by exposure to the displaced radioactive material, according to early estimates. More recent estimates suggest up to 48 people could die.”
I estimate 3 people would have died. Does that count?What nonsense. We have blown nuclear fuel around before. A 6” hole in a cask is trivial compared to the 10 foot hole most of the SL1 fuel load was blasted through. Chernobyl was a REALLY big hole. And both those examples took fuel, melted it, and then blasted it into the atmosphere. An antitank shell is going to punch a hole but that is about all. Almost all of the fuel is going to stay in the cask. SL1 killed the 3 people that were standing on top of it when it exploded. That’s it. Chernobyl killed a dozen or so but most of those were because the emergency people took no precautions to protect themselves. The idea that 48 people could be killed by a 6” hole in a cask of a small percentage of a reactor core that had already cooled for several months is preposterous.
You really want a problem. Here’s a problem. You stop the truck with an antitank shell through the engine. You fight off all the security in the helicopters above and converging vehicles in the convoy while you open the cask and remove the fuel. You drive up your Ryder truck full of fertilizer and stack the fuel around it. Boom! Now THAT might kill 7 people. But instead of the huge battle this will require, take the same Ryder truck to a big city at noon on a weekday.
We’ve got real problems to solve. Why are we wasting our time on such trivial nonsense?
Follow Ups:
- Perception is everything bobbapink 21/3 10:18 (0)