Scattered Miscellany

dennisl09:

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that Japan is reeling from a massive earthquake and tsunami. And now it’s nuclear.

The cost to Japan of this nuclear disaster is going to be monumental. Not just the clean up in Japan, like Chernobyl or 3 Mile Island before it.  Not just the territory that will be unlivable for thousands of years. (Chernobyl created a Zone of Alientation 19 miles in diameter. No one is allowed in that zone). Not just the health risks. (Incidences of thryoid cancer are 500 times greater in the area post Chernobyl). But the massive public subsidies to the nuclear industry.  Are all these costs taken into account when the nuclear industry tells us about the cost of nuclear power?

Last April, the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico.  Horrible horrible pictures and the official US govt report are here. And 11 oil workers died and over 200 million gallons of oil spewed into the Guilf. How many lives have been completely ruined in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida? How many thousands of jobs in the tourist industry, the fishing industry, etc. have been lost? How many bazillion tax dollars will be spent cleaning up the Gulf? Are all these costs taken into account when the oil industry tells us about the cost of fossil fuel?

Clean coal is a myth they’ve been perpetrating for decades. Mining coal creates huge health problems (costing tons of money)  and many deaths every year. The worst in the USA was the Monongah explosion which claimed 362 lives. That was a long time ago, but the Upper Big Branch disaster was just last year. And the clean up of some of the big slag heaps and selenium contamination is also monumental. Just last week more tax dollars were spent on cleaning up abandoned mines. Are all these costs taken into account when the coal industry tells us about the cost of coal energy?

How much cleanup is needed for solar power? How many lives are lost installing solar collectors? Has anyone developed cancer because solar collectors are in their neighborhood? Or ask these same questions about wind power?  How come these costs aren’t taken into account?