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

[Earley, Jack N]

To me it's the equivalent of wishing for rain and then complaining about the mud (or wanting cheap food and complaining about the smell of the farm that you moved next to). When I went to my file to copy that quotation from an unknown author, two adjacent quotations caught my attention as well:

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it."

"If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: 'Take two aspirin' and 'Keep away from children.'"

"If you pray for rain, be prepared to deal with some mud."
 
 
Jack Earley
Health Physicist
509.372.9532

-----Original Message-----
From: Franz Schönhofer [mailto:franz.schoenhofer at chello.at] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 2:51 PM
To: Earley, Jack N; 'Gary Damschen'; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ] RE: Turn off nuclear power, environmentalists urge

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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