Japan on gas, coal power building spree to fill nuclear void

[PamW]

30. BAD nonscientific assumption being made.

kristopher,

The problem is that you have made a BAD non-scientific assumption; namely that a meltdown must result in bad consequences for the surrounding community.

If we look at Three Mile Island; we see that is a BAD assumption. The containment building of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor worked perfectly. There was ZERO unintended or uncontrolled release.

The only release during the Three Mile Island accident was an "on purpose" release to vent an area of the containment so that workers could get in with lessened radiation exposure. If the utility was willing to let its personnel get a bit more radiation exposure; then even that release would have been prevented and the total release to environment from the Three Mile Island accident would have been ZERO.

Even with the small release; the consensus is that nobody was ill-effected. The judge in the case where neighbors sued the operator Metropolitan Edison; the judge granted summary judgment because there wasn't a case to submit to a jury. Here's the ruling from the judge:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/tmi.html

Before you say that the judge was bought off or was a Republican appointee or some other explanation; read the judge's ruling to see that she followed the facts about radiation exposure as given in the scientific reports, most notably the Rogovin Report.

The scientific community came to its conclusion without bias; and the judge and the legal community backed it.

The good thing about science is that it is true, whether or not you believe in it.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson

PamW