AW: [ RadSafe ] RE: Turn off nuclear power, environmentalists urge

[Franz Schönhofer]

Dear Jack,

I do not know how old you are, but I reveal that I am 62. Unfortunately you
seem to be right, that only lack of resources makes people grateful for any
progress to give them comfort. I remember very well, when it was hailed as
the "big step forward", that big reservoirs in the Austrian Alps were built,
big dams allowed for hydroelectric power generation at the Danube river, how
smoking stacks were a great symbol of industrialisation and progress.
Nowadays any attempts to build new reservoirs are met with absolute fierce
resistance and the resistance has been successful The inauguration of the
first nuclear research center at Seibersdorf south of Vienna in the early
sixties was a manifestation of the nuclear age arriving in Austria and the
start of construction of the Nuclear Power Plant at Zwentendorf was another

landmark. ------  Everything has changed. Zwentendorf never went into
operation because of political quarrels. It is clear that we have
electricity, when the grid fails once in ten years, this is attributed to
the nuclear lobby. We import electricity from foreign nuclear power plants,
but protest their existence.

But do we really want a situation like in the 60's, when people would have
been more than happy to have a living standard as we have it today? 

When the referendum in Austria about whether to start the nuclear power
plant at Zwentendorf was held a sticker was distributed which read
approximately:

"Kernkraftswerksgegner überwintern in Höhlen und mit kalten Hintern"
(Nuclear Power Plant opponents hibernate in caves and with cold asses). Not
even this helped!

Best regards,

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von Earley, Jack N
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 11. April 2007 21:44
An: Gary Damschen; radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: RE: [ RadSafe ] RE: Turn off nuclear power, environmentalists urge

Hysteria seems to be a luxury that I suspect is closely related to
comfort, having dealt with some emotionally troubled people over the
years. I also suspect that rationality returns when it's cold and dark.
Reduce the power supply by 20 percent to areas that are opposed to
nuclear energy and let them pay more for their preferred alternatives
while the supply lasts. Experiencing real consequences helps people make
better choices.
 
 
Jack Earley
Health Physicist
509.372.9532

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Gary Damschen
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 10:13 AM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: [ RadSafe ] RE: Turn off nuclear power, environmentalists urge

Has anyone studied the environmental impact of removing the equivalent
of 1000MWe of solar irradiation from a concentrated area or what would
happen to New Jersey's weather patterns if the entire state's electrical
energy needs were met by removing gigawatts of energy from the
prevailing winds?
The energy collected by wind farms is not free. If the wind's energy is
reduced, it stands to reason that thermal mixing of the near-earth
atmosphere would be affected, perhaps even cloud formation and behavior
as well. So what would happen to cooling and heating patterns? Removing
a little energy to power something relatively small probably has little
measurable effect. Remove a nuke plant from the grid and replace it with
solar/wind and I bet you might see some results at least locally. Also,
what happens to the state's power supply if a hurricane comes through
(rare, but it does happen)?

-Gary

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