Three Mile Island & NIMBY

[gsmith660]

Confirm what? Most of what you are telling there are politicians and greedy executives seeing an opportunity to grab some clout and money playing on the public fear of the time.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by gsmith660

sl-1?

Yup...I go the date wrong. He was an Army Nuke instructing in Idaho Falls.

I think I have some pics of the ceremony.

[cashflyer]

I remember TMI, and as mentioned the movies of the time helped to scare a lot of people. TMI, IMO, was a non-incident. It was a failure of people, not of the system.

My father retired from a nuke plant, and throughout my youth we lived 11 miles away from the plant. I never feared the plant or the technology. And even with the waste disposal problems, I believe it is the best power source we have at this time.

Many people (perhaps most?) are poorly educated on nuclear energy. They live in fear of a Hiroshima style nuclear explosion, or a Chernobyl accident. They don't understand that there are differing technologies, and that some plants are safer than others. Many don't know the difference between a reactor building and a cooling tower. They see the steam coming out and think that there is radiation in it. Many still think the plants will "blow up". Many don't know why Chernobyl happened, but they "know" that every nuke plant is another Chernobyl waiting to happen. Unfortunately, it's also an emotional issue for many, meaning that no amount of education will ever sway them from their fears. And many want me to add more punctuation to this paragraph so that it reads better.

Are the plants ugly? Perhaps some are. The one in our area looks no different than any other industrial complex.

[gsmith660]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Yup...I go the date wrong. He was an Army Nuke instructing in Idaho Falls.

I think I have some pics of the ceremony.

I did my training out in Idaho at the now decommed NRF used to drive by SL-1 every day just a concrete slab now, man that was a mess. I have heard that Cherynobl's sarcoffagus is nearing collapse and if that happens!

[Seahawk]

My Dad was/is an interesting Dude (Speeder and I were talking about him headed up to NY on Saturday).

Thanks for your silent service...you folks are amazing.

Originally Posted by gsmith660

I did my training out in Idaho at the now decommed NRF used to drive by SL-1 every day just a concrete slab now, man that was a mess. I have heard that Cherynobl's sarcoffagus is nearing collapse and if that happens!

[gsmith660]

Thank you and back at you if it wasn't for you targets making the other folks nervous we could never sneak in there and put one up their ass!

[gsmith660]

That was a joke! I have the greatest respect for all servicemen and women they are what freedoms all about.

[mike55]

I was a teen at the time and now can only recall the initial hysteria surrounding the initial reports. Like most stories, it took time to seperate facts from fiction.

I wouldn't choose to live by a nuclear facility if the same house was located elswhere and just as nice. But from a safety point of view, it wouldn't bother me. I'd worry allot more about facilities in the developing countries than those in Europe or North America.

Nuclear has to have a future. They really have to get to work on nuclear waste though. With more and more plants coming, it won't get any easier.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by gsmith660

That was a joke! I have the greatest respect for the all servicemen and women they are what freedoms all about.

All of us who have spent any time with you guys know you have your sense of humor surgically removed when you select subs

And we are all targets...every FFG, DDG, or Aegis boat I've ever flown off of was a sponge.

Honestly, I have no idea how you guys do it.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by gsmith660

Piece of cake have you had your ALARA plan and HLA approved? Oh wait a minute Knoxville? DOE or TVA? Cant help if DOE you guys don't use those things. LOL

DOE. We have all the plans - JHAs, Lift Plans, RWPs, etc. We don't typically do ALARA plans, though.

We have activation levels on components that would make you weep.

[MRM]

Originally Posted by 125shifter

I remember that Jimmy Carter went into the containment area where a black cleaning lady was mopping up water and they both became giants.

PS. I've been in a nuclear plant. It was one of the cleanest, most over guarded places I've ever been.

The Pepsi Syndrome, or the Incident at Two Mile Island.

SNL Transcripts: Richard Benjamin: 04/07/79: The Pepsi Syndrome

That was the very first SNL episodes I ever saw. I think I saw the Bassomatic "Comercial" the same night. It's still one of best episodes and skits I've ever seen.

Reporter #1: Is it true that the president is a hundred feet tall?

Ross Denton: That's nonsense! Of course not!

Reporter #2: Is it true that he's ninety feet tall?

Ross Denton: No comment


I grew up just down the road from one of the first nuke plant built. I think it was built by the feds and turned over to Northern States Power to teach the industry how to use nukes. It was far safer than the coal plant spewing smoke right next to it. Millions of people die every year from complications relating to coal smoke and coal mining. Those deaths are completely preventable with careful use of nukes.

In my opinion, the death knell of the nuclear power industry was the unfortunate convergance of Karen Silkwood's real life lawsuit that included allegations of her being killed in a traffic accident to silence her as a whistle blower, Three Mile Island, and The China Syndrome. All three happened closely enough that the image of nuclear power as unsafe and the industry being dangerously reckless and secret became entrenched in popular culture. The nuclear power plant in The Simpsons is an ode to Three Mile Island and the lingering perception of the nuclear power industry being personified by evildoing tycoons like Montgomery Burns.

Edit: I understand that an alternate theory explaining how the real life Karen Silkwood ended up contaminated with radiation and therefore become a whistle blower with a lawsuit. And that was that she was an anti-nuke activist and stole some radioactive material to create some contamination in order to sabotage the building of the plant. I've heard that no one else was ever contaminated and they could never figure out how she got exposed if she didn't do it on purpose.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by MRM

I grew up just down the road from one of the first nuke plant built. I think it was built by the feds and turned over to Northern States Power to teach the industry how to use nukes. It was far safer than the coal plant spewing smoke right next to it.

I also believe the burning of coal releases far more radioactivity into the environment than nuclear plants ever dreamed of...

[MRM]

That's very possible. I do remember Paul Harvey reporting on the Congressional hearings after TMI and that someone brought a Gieger Counter in to demonstrate. Someone wanted to turn it on to see how it worked. It turned out that the background radiation of the Capitol Building was several times the highest level of radiation that escaped from TMI. The Capitol is made out of granite that has natural radioactivity.

The amount of energy that could be produced at such incredible cost savings and with such little polution is mind boggling. Just Google how many people a year are killed in coal mining accidents. It's incredible. The compare the coal dust and coal smoke deaths and it is even worse.

[gsmith660]

Originally Posted by IROC

DOE. We have all the plans - JHAs, Lift Plans, RWPs, etc. We don't typically do ALARA plans, though.

We have activation levels on components that would make you weep.

My friend nothing surprises me I once pulled a smear out from under the S1W prototype reactor vessel that read a couple hundred mr/hr been in fuel transfer canals that had dose rates over 500 rem/hr in places. Thats DOE in my world ALARA is law.

[gsmith660]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

All of us who have spent any time with you guys know you have your sense of humor surgically removed when you select subs

And we are all targets...every FFG, DDG, or Aegis boat I've ever flown off of was a sponge.

Honestly, I have no idea how you guys do it.

Back in the day our life expectancy in combat was only slightly longer than yours because they had to look long enough to get the nuke close enough to kill us. Just short of 30 mins.

[exitwound]

The Simpsons! Good reference.

[GH85Carrera]

I was amazed to see that the coal ash ponds are so big. Coal is accepetd because it is easy to understand. It is a rock that burns. Even a child can understand fire.

[gsmith660]

Originally Posted by IROC

I also believe the burning of coal releases far more radioactivity into the environment than nuclear plants ever dreamed of...

You get a half a millirem of exposure everytime you smoke a cig. from the heat activating stable carbon into carbon-12 a radioactive isotope. Granite is not radioactive what is the source is all the mortor and any concrete the older it is the worse it is because it has a potash component to it that releases radon gas that alpha decays to lead and bismuth both short half-life isotopes that gamma decay in about 28 min. The only person that knows what happened to Silkwood is Silkwood herself and whoever did it to her I dont think anyone is stupid enough to contaminate themselves with plutonium considering it takes a few micro grams of it to kill you from its heavy metal toxicity. Honestly I was told there was no rhyum or reason to the pattern of contamination in her apartment.

[gsmith660]

Originally Posted by exitwound

The Simpsons! Good reference.

No its not

[MRM]

It might not be a good reference, but it was a deliberate one on the part of the Simpsons creators. Just as the name Bart was deliberately created because it's an anagram of "brat" and the name "Simpsons" is a takeoff on the Andersons of 1950s Primetime fame, they deliberately made Homer a nuclear power plant worker and Montgomery Burns a nuclear plant owner specificaly because of the place TMI and nuclear power in general occupies in our collective psyche. It was the biggest, baddest, scariest big corporation they could come up with. The fact that it resonates so well with our culture demonstrates how deeply ingrained the irrational fear of all things nuclear powered is.