<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://grist.org/article/nuclear-is-scary-lets-face-those-fears/" class="">https://grist.org/article/nuclear-is-scary-lets-face-those-fears/</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Excerpts:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Droid Serif", Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; color: rgb(9, 34, 43); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Even renewable power relies on people <a href="http://www.mining.com/web/clean-energy-shift-plus-mining-think-tank/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;" class="">unearthing the cobalt, indium, and other materials</a> for solar panels and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/aug/24/nickel-mining-hidden-environmental-cost-electric-cars-batteries" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;" class="">batteries</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Droid Serif", Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; color: rgb(9, 34, 43); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">There are bits of radioactive material scattered throughout the earth’s crust, and when you excavate tons and tons of rock, you’re going to get exposed to a lot of it. As a result, the people digging up the elements required to make solar panels collectively get <a href="http://www.unscear.org/unscear/en/publications/2016.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;" class="">a little more radiation than</a> the people mining an equivalent amount of uranium. Blasting out the iron ore needed to build wind turbines and generate the same amount of power exposes miners to a little less radiation.</p></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Droid Serif", Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; color: rgb(9, 34, 43); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">There’s no perfect solution for spent fuel, but there’s no perfect solution for any kind of energy waste, Stimson Center’s Vestergaard says.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Droid Serif", Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; color: rgb(9, 34, 43); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">“We currently have around 400,000 tons of nuclear waste globally,” she says. Compare that to coal power, which produces nearly 100 times that much waste every year in the country of <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/how-to-tackle-the-waste-from-coal-power-generation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;" class="">South Africa alone</a>.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, "Droid Serif", Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; color: rgb(9, 34, 43); font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">These other forms of waste aren’t nearly as well-controlled as nuclear. According to a comparison made <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;" class="">in Scientific American</a> by the science writer Mara Hvistendahl, “the fly ash emitted by a power plant — a byproduct from burning coal for electricity — carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy.”</p><div class="">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">“We are constantly deciding how much information is enough.” (p. 44)<br class=""><br class="">“Once we finally reach a decision we are relieved to have the uncertainly of decision making behind us. </div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">And now somebody turns up and tells us things that call the wisdom of that decision into question again.” </div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">(pp. 99-100)<br class=""><br class="">Dietrich Dorner. The Logic of Failure: Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations.<br class="">1989 in German by Rowolt Verlag GMBH.<br class="">1996 in English by Metropolitan Books, Perseus Books.</div></div>
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