Re: SOC/BIO: Rifkin's .. risk

From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Sun Aug 06 2000 - 17:43:10 MDT


Jeff Davis wrote:
>
> On Sat, 5 Aug 2000 18:15:13 +0100
> "Steve" <steve@multisell.com> replied to Mike Lorrey about the safety
> issues re nuclear power:
>
> BNFL has paid out millions of pounds in compensation to its workers for a
> range of cancers, including leukemia, on a probability of just 20% that the
> cancers were caused by radiation.
>
> >TMI? Not one fatality. Chernobyl? A system purposely
> >overloaded with all safety systems turned off, as some sort of stupid
> 'test'
>
> Coal consumption: Nuclear Resource or Danger?>
> A few short excerpts:>
> ...releases from coal combustion contain naturally occurring radioactive
> materials--mainly, uranium and thorium.>
> Former ORNL researchers J. P. McBride, R. E. Moore, J. P. Witherspoon, and
> R. E. Blanco made this point in their article "Radiological Impact of
> Airborne Effluents of Coal and Nuclear Plants" in the December 8, 1978,
> issue of Science magazine. They concluded that Americans living near
> coal-fired power plants are exposed to higher radiation doses than those
> living near nuclear power plants that meet government regulations.
>

Thanks, Jeff. This is something I've mentioned several times on the
list. Beyond this, the fly ash that scrubbers collect at coal plants is
resold (carrying EXTREMELY high levels of heavy metals and radioactive
isotopes, so high that if there were not a law protecting it, it would
HAVE to be classified as nuclear waste) and used as filler in concrete
mix, garden loam, and is used as fill material in landfills.



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