Display:
This has been the subject of quite considerable study. Externe is the biggest one, and if you are too lazy to google it, the carbon impact from nuclear is the same as that of wind, and mostly from the same sources - Concrete manufacture and steel smelting nessesary for construction.
Ore grades used dont much matter, because the quantities of fuel used are tiny, and make up a tiny part of the overall impact of a plant.
by Thomas on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 09:17:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
here: The real cost of electricity



In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 09:44:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
One thing ive never understood on that chart, what are the health costs of wind? is it saying that a percentage of workers will fall off? or is there some other factor that im just not seeing?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:04:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Pretty much. I read the actual study, the health impact of wind was the number of workers who had fallen to their death and/or injury during construction and maintainance, and the people killed and hurt in traffic accidents during transport of mill parts. Apparantly things occasionally go wrong when you are driving around with 30 yard wings on your trailer. Who would have tought?
This also applies to nukes - bulk of that health impact was construction workers dying during construction.
by Thomas on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:09:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
In that case, seeing as there are many fewer large parts to move in the construction of a nuke. dosnt that show lower safety standards?

and in that case if safety standards are lower in that sector of construction, why should there be any confidence in other parts of construction or operation?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:20:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Bulk is not all. The diffrence between the health hazard of nukes and wind is mostly down to the fact that while nuclear is one of the safest industies to work in, nuke plants are also quite heavily manned, so there are more workers to slip down stairs, do stupid things with hazardous chemicals, and have heart attacks - then there is the health impact of the radiation. This isnt a big factor at the plant, as it is mostly down to noble gas isotopes leaking to the atmosphere and causing some theoretical* number of cancers over the next few thousand years.

*The way this number is calculated is absurd. A population of 9 billion people is assumed, as are cancer survival rates identical to todays. That is not a possible future - If we maintain a technological civilization, cancer is not going to kill anyone in 400 years. If we do not, the population will be rather a heck of a lot lower than nine billion, and the number of cancer cases will be correspondingly lower.

by Thomas on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:34:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Got a link to the outline of those calculations?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:48:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
http://www.externe.info/ pulbications, nuclear. Huh. should have re-read. the most significant isotope is c-14. Calculation is still absurd, tough.
by Thomas on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 11:00:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It doesn't look like that the mortality of eg. miners involved in extracting the necessary minerals are included in the health tally...
by Nomad on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:34:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It is, it just doesnt come to much, in the final reckoning. The present global uranium industry just doesnt kill a lot of people per annum. The wwII/50s era "Get Uranium now to defeat nazism/communism" wildcatting had casualties, but modern in-situ leaching and canadian mining operations just are not very dangerous.
by Thomas on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 10:45:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Still would like to see mining stats on mortality/injuries per energy category one day...

My focus lies not with uranium mining per se, but with the coal industry.

by Nomad on Thu Jan 14th, 2010 at 12:48:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Occasional Series