Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 22:04:07 +0100 From: Paul Robinson <paul@akita.co.uk> To: cjclark@alum.mit.edu Cc: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>, Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@ofug.org>, Stephen Hurd <deuce@lordlegacy.org>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Helping victims of terror Message-ID: <20010919220407.A43466@jake.akitanet.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <20010919132340.D306@blossom.cjclark.org>; from cristjc@earthlink.net on Wed, Sep 19, 2001 at 01:23:40PM -0700 References: <NFBBJPHLGLNJEEECOCHAMEFMCDAA.deuce@lordlegacy.org> <xzpelp9s9ga.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> <3BA33CB6.FE0102C8@mindspring.com> <20010919132340.D306@blossom.cjclark.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Sep 19, "Crist J. Clark" <cristjc@earthlink.net> wrote: > I loathe to join the thread, but this is so-o way off base. I was in this thread early on, and left because I didn't really feel comfortable here with my pseudo-pacifist tendancies. However, here I come back again. And to think - this is *freebsd*-chat... :-) > Now, as to why no new nuclear plants have been built in the past few > decades is a whole separate issue. Economics, regulation, and public > fear of accidents have prevented this. However, the idea that the US > public feels guilty about using fission weapons against Japan is > completely unfounded. You've actually kind of contradicted yourself there. In the 1940 and even 1950s (post-Hiroshima) nuclear power seems to have been seen as the future of mankind - although I'm too young to have witnessed what went on there at the time, I've even seen some of those 'homes of the future' films made back then that seemed to suggest that by around now every home would have it's own nuclear power source. This didn't happen for one primary reason - nuclear power was equated with nuclear war. Seeing as the only real documentary evidence of the effects of nuclear war are Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seems sensible they are used as evidence. I don't think this has much to do with America or Japan however - we're talking more about the effects. When people see the film footage, or hear the accounts about people walking around with their skin hanging off them, millions dead, etc. and THEN go into a cold war where the primary threat is nuclear weapons, when you work for GE, you're going to have problems convincing the general public - no matter what their nationality - as to whether they want nuclear power. That's because the word nuclear is already fixed in their minds as a threat, as dangerous and something that kills people. Then, when a country manages to let one of it's plants fall into disrepair and you end up with incidents like Chernobyl, you realise that nuclear power is unlikely to be popular for some years. > I am wondering what type of hazardous chemical wastes from coal > cumbustion you are speaking of. Google for hazardous wastes of coal combustion (note the difference in spelling to the one you use) and see what you get. Coal combustion is considered by the US Government (or rather EPA) as non-hazardous, but contains toxic metals that get land-filled - arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury all feature in the lists I've seen. This issue gets clouded because 'Green' organisations will frequently scream and shout about nuclear power and waste incinerators, but seem very quiet when to comes to coal-burning. In actual fact, Greenpeace don't seem to want to talk about it all. What I would rather have is properly managed nuclear power, or even better would be cost-effective solar, wind or wave power, perhaps with some more effcient electronics in the world too. I would consider advocating pellet fuels, but don't know enough about them. In fact, I've only just found a load of papers on them whilst checking some of my facts in this post. > As a chemical engineer, I could delve into how grossly > disproportionate the fears of these things are as opposed to the real > risks (the common irrational fears of crime and terrorism got nothing > on these), but I'll spare you all. If you're a chemical engineer, I'm suprised you aren't aware of the by-products of coal combustion. I'm a Software Engineer, and even *I* know that burning coal causes huge masses of pollution and large amounts of waste that needs burying somewhere, preferably somewhere where it is above the local water table. Still, I managed to forget to put a main() in a C program the other day, so we aren't all perfect, no matter what our job titles. :-) -- PR To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20010919220407.A43466>