Tanada wrote:Fear of nuclear power is the same as the fear of heights (acrophobia) or small spaces (claustrophobia), there is no reasoning behind it because it is not based on actual damage done to the person in fear, it is based on the potential damage to the person who is fearful.
Nuclear armageddon is not high on my list of things to worry about---slow motion economic collapse and climate chaos are enough for me. But I wouldn't equate opposition to nuclear power to a psychological disorder. Perhaps overblown, but hardly a psychological disorder.
If anything were like the media presents it to be then we would have all died from every possible threat long long ago. That doesn't keep people from having zombie apocalypse nightmares, or ebola bioterrorism nightmares, but in this world we live in your chances of dieing from starvation or violence are vastly greater than your odds of falling out of a skyscraper window, being crushed to death, or getting fatal radiation poisoning.
Well if the probability of dieing from starvation or violence is higher than we'd like, why add yet another threat, one completely beyond the individual's control?
Seriously, I think Cephalotus has done a good job of laying out the worst-case scenario argument for nuclear, which is what the OP was asking. It ain't pretty, and it's not as improbable as you seem to think.
That said, as the threat posed by climate change and our continued burning of FFs has become more and more apparent (and more and more alarming), I'll admit to being less anti-nuclear than I used to be, despite continuing to be an unrepentant treehugger. But it's a moot question, at least in the US. Nuclear is an economic loser in the America, and that's all the matters. The moneymen are the deciders, and they've decided nuclear is too expensive to build. It simply can't compete with coal and gas. That isn't likely to change any time soon.
As for China, Russia, et al. building nuke plants, they'll build them regardless of environmental regulations or NIMBYism or economic rationality---that's the beauty of authoritarianism. Plus they'll burn as much coal, gas, and oil as they can. A win-win for all sides I suppose....
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