First: I'm not necessarily opposed to nuclear, at least in the near term. However it has numerous issues (see link below, Thoughts...). Addressing risks:
Coal mining is a strawman. The comparison you want to be making is to solar, wind, hydro, and biomass.
All of which compare well with, if not better than nuclear. And which don't suddenly consecrate 300-1,000 year human-exclusion wildlife parks, and threaten continent-wide areas with toxic poison which cannot be sensed directly.
From: "Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change"
http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/report/
The problem with nuclear power is that, with little warning, things can go very, very wrong. From good neighbor to continent-contaminating, centuries-long nature-preserve (no humans allowed) creation. The uncertainty and disputes over nuclear accident consequences (Chernobyl deaths: a few dozen, hundreds, thousands, millions? Over what time? When do you close the books? What happens if containment around the sarcophogus fails some time into the future?).
The worst power plant accident of time, not a nuclear power plant failure, but a hydro station in China, Banqiao Dam. It's instructive several ways:
Any number of fairly simple methods would have hugely alleviated the impact of the disaster. Much as with major nuclear disasters, it was a cascade of failures, starting with poor management and a dysfunctional culture, amplified through poor design, adverse conditions, poor communications, delayed or absent warnings, and little or no disaster response (many of the deaths were attributed to starvation and disease, not drowning or other physical impacts).
A useful thing to keep in mind, though, is that after a dam break is done being a a massive disaster area, which typically resolves in a few hours to a few weeks, the land is no longer a glowing radioactive mess. It can be re-settled and populated as structures and infrasctructure are rebuilt. Zhumadian City, the region surrounding Banqiao, has a present population of over 7 million.
Or look up the story of the Johnstown Flood, worst dam break in US history (by deaths), which saw the emergence of the Red Cross, of national response to disasters, and changes in liability laws.
(Excepting Johnstown and Banqiao, dam failure mortality falls off rapidly, with another 8 disasters of 1,000+ lives. Wikipedia gives some 908 notable dams, and 137 hydroelectric facilities of 1GW+ net capcity.)
There are other questions, notably whether or not "deaths per GWh generation" is the most appropriate measure of risk. Particularly for a technology whose risk tail spans not years, decades, or even centuries, but millennia. Or longer.
Last I checked, there were few human institutions with lifespans of similar scale. Technical or otherwise.
Coal mining is a strawman. The comparison you want to be making is to solar, wind, hydro, and biomass.
All of which compare well with, if not better than nuclear. And which don't suddenly consecrate 300-1,000 year human-exclusion wildlife parks, and threaten continent-wide areas with toxic poison which cannot be sensed directly.
http://i.imgur.com/KqOOYai.png
From: "Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/report/
The problem with nuclear power is that, with little warning, things can go very, very wrong. From good neighbor to continent-contaminating, centuries-long nature-preserve (no humans allowed) creation. The uncertainty and disputes over nuclear accident consequences (Chernobyl deaths: a few dozen, hundreds, thousands, millions? Over what time? When do you close the books? What happens if containment around the sarcophogus fails some time into the future?).
The worst power plant accident of time, not a nuclear power plant failure, but a hydro station in China, Banqiao Dam. It's instructive several ways:
Any number of fairly simple methods would have hugely alleviated the impact of the disaster. Much as with major nuclear disasters, it was a cascade of failures, starting with poor management and a dysfunctional culture, amplified through poor design, adverse conditions, poor communications, delayed or absent warnings, and little or no disaster response (many of the deaths were attributed to starvation and disease, not drowning or other physical impacts).
A useful thing to keep in mind, though, is that after a dam break is done being a a massive disaster area, which typically resolves in a few hours to a few weeks, the land is no longer a glowing radioactive mess. It can be re-settled and populated as structures and infrasctructure are rebuilt. Zhumadian City, the region surrounding Banqiao, has a present population of over 7 million.
Or look up the story of the Johnstown Flood, worst dam break in US history (by deaths), which saw the emergence of the Red Cross, of national response to disasters, and changes in liability laws.
(Excepting Johnstown and Banqiao, dam failure mortality falls off rapidly, with another 8 disasters of 1,000+ lives. Wikipedia gives some 908 notable dams, and 137 hydroelectric facilities of 1GW+ net capcity.)
There are other questions, notably whether or not "deaths per GWh generation" is the most appropriate measure of risk. Particularly for a technology whose risk tail spans not years, decades, or even centuries, but millennia. Or longer.
Last I checked, there were few human institutions with lifespans of similar scale. Technical or otherwise.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banqiao_Dam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhumadian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam_failure
https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/2awjj2/thought...
https://www.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/283sz1/key_fac...?