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Chernobyl

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isabelle:
yep, I remember that day 20 years ago very well. But being in France, we were totally fooled by our government (as is often the case), who told us that the Chernobyl radioactive cloud had NOT gone beyond the French border on the Estern front! Well, our customs officers are so clever, you know...
So whereas other Europeans were being told the truth and taking the measures they could (in children's playground, with milk production, vegetables), we were told there was NO worry.
Apparently, it is the East and south of France that were hit worst (as we now know!). The mother of my best friend is dying of leukemia, like many in the south, and they think this abnormally high number of such cases is due to Chernobyl.

I am ashamed to say I do not think I would've been a hero either. But none of us knows, we might have done the same.

nic:
Hi

This thread caught my eye.  I work in the nuclear reactor and radiation field & there is a lot of mis-information about what happened as I'm sure you're all aware. Even in respected publicatons reporting the 20th anniversary, it is stated that there was a meltdown at Chernobyl - this is not the case.   I haven't noticed any clangers in the posts above although I do have to adjust my filters as in "lay person" language things are expressed differently. If anyone has any concerns about this area, please mail me and I try to give you an answer that is not tainted by media expectations.

I am a member of an emergency response team and am expected to attend incidents that could endanger my life.  Like all emergency responders (fire, police, etc) we are informed of the risk.  That was a problem in Chernobyl - not all responders were informed to the appropriate level.  How could they when they needed 1000s of people? But that is what the military is for when such large scale events occur and that's why the industry today stages major scale exercises, even international exercises. 

I am visiting Chernobyl in a couple of weeks time and hope to find out even more. In short, I would say don't worry about anything radiation related - you are far more likely to have a road traffic accident everytime you travel on a road.

Hope that wasn't too preachy,
nic.

 

isabelle:
Hi nic,
No, not too preachy, but don't you agree there are enough causes for large scale accidents without adding some more?
And sorry, but I cannot sit and think "nothing to worry about with nuclear radiations". I do not mean to be offensive, but Chernobyl WAS a major disaster of a kind we do not need.

nic:
Yes we do not need such accidents but we do need large amounts of reliable power. In terms of an industry, nuclear power generation has a very good safety record and nowhere the number of fatalities associated with coal and gas.  Today nuclear power stations have to operate under a safety case that says they have a less than 1 in 1000000 chance of there being an accident that causes an off-site hazard.  No other industry is regulated to this degree. What about all the excess deaths caused by respiratory problems from carbon-emitting industries? They might not be associated with one singular event but they are there. If we continue to consume such large amounts of power we have to use something.  I would prefer to install a geothermal power system, mini wind turbine and solar panels on my house to offset the power I use but this is not going to happen to all residences overnight. 

nic

isabelle:

--- Quote from: nic on April 27, 2006, 11:13:26 am ---.  I would prefer to install a geothermal power system, mini wind turbine and solar panels on my house to offset the power I use but this is not going to happen to all residences overnight. 

nic



--- End quote ---

That's right nic, I agree with you here. But I for one would be ready to lower my energy consumption if it could mean avoiding/reducing hazards and pollution.
And how do you get rid of the nuclear waste?! That is a tricky one to date, one we seem to keep for future generations.

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