On Tue, 26 Feb 2008, James Newton wrote:

> Wouter, I don't understand the difference between naturally occurring veins
> of radioactive ore being exposed by some natural or unnatural upheaval and
> that same sort of exposure happening to spent fuel rods. 
> 
> Shit happens. At least with Yukka Mt. we will know were it is and can react
> if there does happen to be a problem in the future. Mother nature could
> belch up a load of yellow cake in Utah or Arizona tomorrow and no one would
> even know it was dangerous. (where is your radiation detector?)
> http://www.mesauranium.com/s/Home.asp 
> 
> We mine the ore out of the ground, refine it, use it, and then stress
> ourselves to death about putting it back? How exactly are we worse off than
> we were before we dug it up and purified it? Why not just dilute the heck
> out of it and spray it into the air? Or dump it in the ocean? Or, here is a
> radical idea, put it back where we got it from in the first place?
> 
> My guess is that more people die from air pollution due to coal fired
> electrical generation plants every year than would die from radiation
> poisoning if we just chopped the fuel rods up really fine and fed it to the
> population along with the Mercury and PCB's in their fish sticks.
> 
> And yes, I'm being purposely shocking and "over the top" but I'm hoping it
> makes the point: Radiation is but one of many hazards that we all live with.
> We have cut ourselves off from an alternative source of electricity that
> might well be much less hazardous in the long run because of an unjustified
> fear of that one type of hazard.
> 
> We need perspective: Look at how many people have died (or will die) due to
> our dependence on fossile fuels then compare that to the actual number of
> people who died (or will die) from Chernobyl. 
> 
> I live and work downwind from an active nuke power plant. Odds are, I will
> die of a heart attack, cancer, stroke or auto accident.
> http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds_dying.jpg How much could another nuke
> plant reduce my odds of lung cancer? 
> 

If you really stop and think about it, the reason people don't want 
nuclear power plants has nothing to do with the danger of radition. It's 
to do with trust. We don't trust the people in charge to do the right 
thing by US. 

We don't trust them to put OUR interests before THEIR own prockets, we 
don't trust them to be competent at their own jobs and we certainly don't 
trust them to keep us safe.

Regards
Sergio
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