Posted by Diarmuid on October 30, 2001 at 09:24:22:
In Reply to: How many of you live near a nuclear power plant? posted by Mikko on October 30, 2001 at 09:04:38:
All it takes is one relatively minor fuck-up and half your continent gets terminal cancer. But hey, it's a relatively cheap source of electricity.
There are thousands of ways to get those megawatts in a risk-free way, but the notion of Chernobyl happening to California or France is just too big and scary to consider. So people just pretend it doesn't exist.
That's the thing about our species: when the risk becomes immense, we tend to ignore it more. Our capacity for logic makes no impact whatsoever on our actual behavior.
Right now, with recession looming, people are still spending twice as much as they earn. If they get downsized, they'll be wiped out financially for the next few decades. Their spending only makes sense if they reasonably expect to get 1999-style bonuses in 2001/2002. With few exceptions, this won't happen.
Interesting, the US culture where people are most likely to say "I have no sympathy, you are responsible for your own actions" is also the country where people are most irresponsible.
: And what do you think about using nuclear power as an energy source in general?