How many nuclear power plant meltdowns does it take to make our planet uninhabitable?

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Hi again,

Extrapolating on what Mr. CEO said, that ..."40 to 60% of the power companies being offline for 2-4 weeks, followed by rationing of dirty power for a year" would be a "home run" in his mind, doesn't this mean that we're in for multiple meltdowns of power plants? If 40-60% of them are offline for 2-4 weeks, and most have no more than a weeks worth of diesel fuel for their backup generators, (assuming their generators work in the first place), and if they need power from the grid to restart, it seems like we're in for massive meltdowns. This is assuming that they can work around their own Y2k problems. A friend of mine, recently retired from SDG&E, told me that nuclear plants have safety devices that must report their status on a regular basis. If any one of them fails to do so, the plant goes into shut-down mode. I suppose that unless a calculation is done with this data, there won't be problems. So maybe the nuclear plants will be okay.

This morning I've been feeling like taking the rest of the year off, drinking my small store of champagne and beer, and eating my "comfort foods," instead of spending all my spare time, and all my resources, trying to make our home as self sustaining as possible. I've been thinking that if we don't die of starvation next year, or aren't murdered by wandering cannibals, it seems we're gonners for radiation poisoning. If the movie Y2K is right, and plutonium is thrust 20 miles into the air, how many power plants melting down does it take to make our planet inhabitable. That radiation will go everywhere, getting into our homes, our plants, our animals, our soil, our water. And what about the nuclear submarines off our San Diego coast. I doubt that they're compliant.

I really won't give up, because a friend of mine from long ago was in a concentration camp in Germany. He wouldn't give up, because he was curious about the future. He was a German scientist who didn't agree with Hitler. His head was grazed in a firing squad just before the Russians came into the camp and saved him. Many others gave up. They were given rope to hang themselves, and many did.

He told me about plants exposed to high levels of radiation that still lived and actually thrived. Also, if we look at Chernobyl, there are still plants and people living nearby. If we protect ourselves through the use of sea plants containing iodine, such as kelp, chlorella and other algaes, maybe we can survive. These foods seemed to have helped many in Japan after the bombing of Hiroshima.

I really appreciate all of you. You've become important to me. Thank you for your thoughts and feelings.

Victoria

-- Anonymous, December 03, 1999

Answers

I subscribe to Declan McCullagh's Politech list server, and the following was posted to the listserv today - follow the link for more info:
I realized today I haven't written anything about Y2K for a little while. So here's my report on Chernobyl, martial law, bank runs, toilets, blackouts, and all the usual Y2K wackiness:

http: //www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,32855,00.html

                     Chernobyl Says It's Ready 
                     by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)

                     7:00 a.m. 3.Dec.1999 PST 
                     It sounds like a bad made-for-TV movie,
                     and in fact it was. 

                     But for already-once-irradiated folks living
                     within a few thousand miles of the
                     Chernobyl nuclear reactor, Y2K is hardly
                     fiction. The infamous accident killed 31
                     people and belched a radioactive cloud
                     over Europe in a nasty series of events
                     that prompted the G-7 nations to pay
                     Ukraine to pull the plug on the
                     once-and-hopefully-not-future nuclear
                     nightmare. 

                     But closure of the remaining Number
                     Three unit won't happen until 2000. 

                     Is it rid of Y2K woes? "I wouldn't like to
                     say categorically that nothing will
                     happen, but we are prepared for
                     practically any situation," says shift
                     supervisor Viktor Kuchinsky. 

                     [...]


-- Anonymous, December 03, 1999

www.theage.com.au/breaking/9912/03/A13929-1999Dec3.shtml

Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Closed After Radioactive Leak

Source: AFP | Published: Friday December 3 3:39:41 AM

KIEV, Dec 2 - The newly re-opened third reactor at Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, has been shut down because of a malfunction in its emergency cooling system, a plant spokesman said today.

"A leak was detected Wednesday night in the pipes transporting radioactive water and used to cool down the third reactor," the Chernobyl spokesman said, adding however that no increase in radioactivity was recorded.

Reactor number three, which is the only one in operation at the plant, was reopened on November 26 after five months of work to ensure the plant's safety.

The repair work included checking and reinforcing the reactor's pipe system, which was discovered in recent years to be riddled with hundreds of cracks.

An environment ministry official said the leak proved the dilapidated plant was a ticking time-bomb that threatened the whole of Europe.

"We're shocked. The plant has got to be shut down for safety reasons. We cannot put the lives of the population in danger," Vadim Grichenko said.

Grichenko said Kiev was still waiting to find out if it would receive the $US3.1 billion ($A4.75 billion) dollar compensation handouts promised by the G7 group of industrialised nations, in return for closing the plant by the year 2000.

"It is vitally important for us to know whether we are going to get this money. However, for now the safety issue has to over-ride all financial considerations," Grichenko said.

The plant spokesman said the reactor was scheduled to start functioning again on December 8.

An independent expert said the lack of funds meant the repair work carried out on the reactor had been shoddy.

"Everything has been done in a hurry," Georgy Kochinsky said.

Reactor number four melted down on April 26, 1986, spreading a radioactive cloud over much of Europe and claiming between 3000 and 12,000 lives, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Reactor number two was shut down in 1991 after a fire, and reactor number one was taken out of service in 1996 as part of an international agreement to decommission the plant.

-- Anonymous, December 03, 1999


This is some really scary stuff, folks. Victoria, what is this about protecting ourselves with kelp, iodine, and algaes? If it is true, where do you buy it and in what form?

Peace to all...

Lisa

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999


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