A bike ride thru Chernobyl

[ramanth]

Originally posted by Tubby & Peanut's Mom
My Aunt just got back from a trip to Paris and England and she said that the main source of electricity in France is nuclear power. I was thinking about sending her the link to this site....but then I remembered that her and my mom and 99% of the rest of my family live within 25 miles of 2 nuclear plants.

Seems there are a lot of nuclear power plants still up and running.

US Nuclear Power Plant Locations and Websites

We pass the one in Newport, MI on our way to Findlay. It has the same shape as the one in The Simpsons.

That's what I relate all nuclear power plants too, but I guess they come in all shapes and sizes.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

This one and this one are the ones near my parents. The Point Beach one (second one) is the closer of the two and the one I'm more familiar with because they are the ones that had the educational center. The educational center has been closed since 9-11 and security has increased dramatically. My cousins girlfriend works there and it has always been known that the nuclear plant is a great place to work - you earn good money. My dad is a fisherman and fishing has always been good "off the nuclear plant" because of the warm water that is emitted back into the lake. They take in the cold lake water to cool the reactors and then flush it back into the lake. It's not radioactive or anything - just warm - and it appears the fish like that.

Thanks for that link, Kimmy. I knew there were nuclear plants in Illinois also, but I didn't know there was one in Downers Grove!!! Appears I still live within 25 miles of a nuclear plant.

However, not to start a big debate or anything, but since I grew up near two of them and they have just been a part of my life since day one - I really have no problem with nuclear plants. I know they are extremely dangerous, but as long as they are well maintained and regulated..... Obviously accidents can still happen as evidenced by the Chernobyl site, but out of all the nuclear plants in the world......I know, it's a weak argument, but what are the alternatives? No one likes coal and the environmentalists are against the building of any more dams for hydro-electric, and for some reason the big wind mill things just haven't taken off in the US.

For me, nuclear power brings up all sorts of conflicting emotions and ideas. On one hand I'm all for it, on the other hand I'm not - especially when I see sites like this one and realize that humans will not be able to populate this land for a minimum of 300 years - and that could be as much as 900 years! That is totally mind boggling.......

[ramanth]

I agree Debbie. I think the US has always been extra careful with nuclear power plants here, especially after the lesson learned with Chernobyl.

I ride the fence too. One one hand, I love my electricity... on the other, it's scary if an accident like that ever happened again.

They use those giant wind mills in Toronto. They are quite a sight.

[smokey the elder]

I live so close to Indian Point that if there weren't trees in the way I could see it. After 9/11 there was a huge debate about whether it should be closed, and put a gas fired plant there. BUT, the pipeline project has been blocked, so how are they going to get the gas there??

(A little off track, sorry.)

I saw a special not long ago where the Russian and Ukrainian governments have released information on the accident. It made a cautionary tale on the human element of any safety program. They were overdue for a preventive maintenance (PM). But some bigwigs were coming, and there was a conflict in orders whether to do the PM (at a quarter power) or run the plant on full. They decided to do the PM. There is a delay when they change the control rods, and what happens in the reactor. It's not just on or off like a light switch.

The power dropped below 1/4 and the reactor "stalled". They pulled the rods out a bit; the reactor seemed like it wasn't doing anything. They let them out some more; then the reactor ran away, causing the meltdown. Some of the people doing the PM were not very well trained.