|
I am
beginning to think my comments on cooling towers may have been misconstrued. I
am neither for or against them. I have worked at power stations (yes , nuclear)
which employed both cooling systems and really have no preference. I was
attempting to make the point that I am against the prohibitive cost of changing
over to cooling towers when it is not of great import either way. Warm water
creates more sea/lake life and intakes kill fish. Sounds like a trade-off to me.
For those of you out there who oppose nuclear power in general , you'll have to
do better than 'cooling towers' when attempting to close down all of the power
stations. When the public in general weighs the balance between fishkills and
trippling their electric bill , I think the fish are out of luck. And as an
aside , while the anti-nuke side of the proverbial fence is researching the
evils of nuclear power , how about looking into the amount of carbon dioxide the
fossil plants put into the atmosphere , and acid rain and non renewable fossil
fuel , and the damage done by hydro electric and the enormous land mass required
for a windmill farm , and the subteranian voids left from pumping the oil out of
the ground , and the havok visited on the landscape from strip mining for
coal...... check into the treatment of Apalachean coal miners and the conditions
they live in , check into oil spills , mine fires (some of which have burned
unchecked for decades) and sink holes. Check into black lung. Then add up all
the deaths attributable to other energy sources and compare the stats. Check the
safety records. Then look at your power bill. A good percentage of your
electricity comes from nuke plants. Go down to your circuit box and kill the
main. Then walk around your home and flick the switches on and off. Feels kind's
weird , doesn't it. It is a matter of supply and demand also. If such a great
number of you wish for the demise of the nuclear industry , leave the main
breaker off. If demand goes down enough you will get your way out of attrition.
The plants will close. You will win. If you all believe as strongly as you
profess in saving the environment from mean old mister nuclear , you will have
to make some sacrafices. Start by turning off everything you own that uses
electricity. I wish you the best of luck. For those of you out there whom don't
fit the mold , this is not directed at you. Please do not take offense. It was
just high time somebody said something.
Floyd
Flanigan
|