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Speaking of trucks....[
A couple of 'highway safety' things:
1. The amount of energy that can be generated from
one truckload of nuclear fuel is equivalent to
multiple truckloads of coal. I don't know the number
offhand. [There would be two "truckloads" if Yucca
Mountain goes ahead: one going into the generating
plant and one going out several years later]. In
effect, one megawatt of coal generating capacity puts
more trucks on the road than does one megawatt of
nuclear, although it is true that some coal generating
plants are located close to coal mines with a short
rail line to transport the coal.
2. Speaking of hazards of trucks...
Photo: http://www.wdef.com/MGBITC4YSYC.html
Something to think about: If there are lots of low
speed side roads or public transportation available,
commuters have choices to avoid high speed interstate
travel when it's foggy. If there are few side roads
available, the commuters have little choice except to
be exposed to the risk. Their only realistic choice
concerning freeway travel is to make their risk
reduction decisions at the time they select a home or
apartment.
How often is the detailed risk assessment used for
nuclear power used concerning traffic?
~Ruth 2
==================================================
Four Motorists Killed in Ga. Pileup
==================================================
Source: Associated Press
Publication date: 2002-03-14
RINGGOLD, Ga. (AP) - More than 100 vehicles piled up
in a chain-reaction crash on a foggy interstate in
northwest Georgia on Thursday, killing at least four
people, authorities said.
Several hours after the accident, three bodies were
still in mangled vehicles and one had been removed
from the scene, Catoosa County Sheriff Phil Summers
said. Thirty-nine injured people were taken to
hospitals, 15 of them with major injuries.
Earlier, officials had said 10 people died in the
crash. Summers revised that number to five and then
four.
The accident happened about 7:50 a.m. on Interstate 75
just south of Chattanooga, Tenn., said Karlene Barron,
spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of
Transportation.
Authorities said visibility was low due to heavy fog
when two tractor-trailers in southbound lanes
apparently made contact, sending one across the median
where it flipped onto its side. The truck hit several
northbound vehicles, and dozens of other vehicles then
plowed into the pile. In all, about 125 vehicles were
involved in the wreck.
The interstate was closed in both directions after the
crash.
Summers said he didn't expect charges would be filed
against the truck drivers.
"It did not appear that there was any fault other than
fog," he said. "This was an act of nature."
Each morning, thousands of commuters who live in
northwest Georgia head north to work in and around
Chattanooga.
Rhonda Frix, an employee at Catoosa Utility in
Ringgold, said she avoided I-75 Thursday, partly
because the fog was so thick.
"It was almost zero visibility out there," Frix said.
"It was worse this morning than it has been in a long
time."
Thursday's crash happened about 40 miles from the site
of a 1990 pileup that killed 12 people, prompting
Tennessee officials to install a fog detection system
on that stretch of the highway.
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press
All Rights Reserved
===================================================
http://home.trivergent.net/article.php?catID=18&link_text=/pages/trivergent/Story.nsp?story_id=28529180&ID=trivergent
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