Anyone live near a windfarm?

[Hay Dude]

I live near the Three Mile Island reactor in PA, where we had a near melt down incident in 1979. Evacuation was ordered but it was chaotic. Although no one was killed, there has been a noted increase in certain cancers among residents in the area. I was just outside the evacuation zone at the time but still scared sh!tless. An experience I don't ever care to experience again.

I live closer to Three Mile Island than you.

Plans are underway to reopen the undamaged reactor at TMI to power Microsoft's AI initiative and everyone around here is very concerned. Sure, a lot has changed in the nuclear industry since then, but can anyone really say they are 100% safe?

I’d say they are. Hundreds of other reactors have been operating in my area (Peach Bottom, Limerick) for decades. My wife worked as a teenager at Limerick.

Nuclear may well be the answer but a lot needs to be done to address the location, safety and contingency planning. Unfortunately, those of us who live near nukes are in the minority and feel a whole lot differently than the general population.

Well I have 2 nuke plants, each about 25 miles from me. So I am a firm believer in Nuclear energy, but I’m in the danger zone.

That being said, I'm not against nuclear power generation. It holds great promise for our future energy needs. It's the location of these plants that causes the greatest concern. Unfortunately, due to transmission losses, they need to be located near population centers where energy is needed most. This puts a greater portion of the population at risk.

I’d take that chance over unreliable, mostly foreign made solar and wind power.

 

[rontaki]

 

[D&D]

I'm glad your comfortable with your location and I sincerely hope you never have to experience a TMI like incident.

TMI was operational until 2019. If the location bothered you so much, why didn't you move?

 

[D&D]

Yes, we could argue the issue forever but the question is, do you want a nuke in your neighborhood?

We do agree on one point. Nukes COULD be located away from cities. The trick is to force power companies to do it.

The "company town" will be constructed near the actual work site. Then other people will move in and next thing you know, urban sprawl has come to your backyard.

 

[D&D]

Well I have 2 nuke plants, each about 25 miles from me. So I am a firm believer in Nuclear energy, but I’m in the danger zone.

Probably more danger from an ICBM or drone strike on the grid than the facilities themselves.

 

[D&D]

When I had radioactive "seeds" put in my pelvic region to kill my prostate cancer I decided to learn about radioactivity. Knowing what I do now I would not be scared of a TMI level leak if it happened near me. Nevertheless we still need greater safety controls on nuclear plants than we have now. Witness the amount of radiation released from the TEPCO plant in Japan from the flooding caused by the tsunami. That plant should have been much better protected.
Eric

Oh please, that plant withstood more than probably any other place in the universe. The safety controls did an automatic shutdown when the earthquake hit. The transmission lines were toppled by the earthquake cutting any input grid power. Emergency generators kicked in to provide reactor cooling (required 24/7). Then the seawall (designed for 500 year+events) was breached by the tsunami, in turn, flooding out the generators. Then, and only then, when reactor cooling failed was a true crisis inevitable. Between the earthquake and tsunami the "protective shell" was cracked, allowing some leakage.
From an engineering design/build standpoint, that place was "bullet proof", mother nature showed us where the problems were. Mother nature is always showing people where our faults are.

 

[etpm]

Then the seawall (designed for 500 year+events) was breached by the tsunami, in turn, flooding out the generators.

Yes, the seawall failed which allowed flooding. It should have been taller and the generators should not have been located where flooding could have harmed them. A 500 year event is only a statistical number and is not the kind of thing to be relied on when protecting something as potentially dangerous as the TEPCO plant. Just my opinion.
Eric

 

[rontaki]

The "company town" will be constructed near the actual work site. Then other people will move in and next thing you know, urban sprawl has come to your backyard.

Not to mention that the newcomers will complain about the dangerous nuke in their backyards, until they get it shut down.
Rinse
Repeat

 

[ponytug]

That's a tsunami warning stone from Japan. They generally have a warning on them to the effect of not to build downhill from the marker. Some of the markers are five hundred years old in the Fukushima area.

The reactor was build way below the existing markers. Way below. So nobody at TEPCO can claim ignorance of the risk.

In my opinion, Fukushima was 100% preventable. 100%.

In my book, any engineer or architect who designs a backup power system where it can be flooded deserves to have their license revoked. Permanently. There is a nuclear plant in Iowa that has come with inches of the backup generators flooding several times. Last I knew the generators had not been raised... grrrrr!

All the best,

Peter

 

[Hay Dude]

That's a tsunami warning stone from Japan. They generally have a warning on them to the effect of not to build downhill from the marker. Some of the markers are five hundred years old in the Fukushima area.

The reactor was build way below the existing markers. Way below. So nobody at TEPCO can claim ignorance of the risk.

In my opinion, Fukushima was 100% preventable. 100%.

In my book, any engineer or architect who designs a backup power system where it can be flooded deserves to have their license revoked. Permanently. There is a nuclear plant in Iowa that has come with inches of the backup generators flooding several times. Last I knew the generators had not been raised... grrrrr!

All the best,

Peter

So Peter, is the answer to not build nuke plants?
I agree building anything that close to a flood zone is ill-advised.
But we have to keep progressing towards modernization of our power grid and windmills/solar panels ain’t going to cut it.

Natural gas and nukes will.