Quote:nemonowan wrote:...therefore we should ban every single potentially dangerous technology? Or put it in the hands of government- the very people who gave the contract for the Hanford vitrification plant to the most incompetent pack of idiots I've ever heard of, and have turned the entire Pacific Northwest into a ticking time bomb by doing so? I think not.
And that is what ultimately is the problem with every single potentially dangerous technology: no matter that with sufficient research, effort and forethought it can be made comparatively safe, if it is used by companies whose only interest is to extract every last penny from them it will be done cheaper and not safely.
The problem there is that the companies using said technologies have no real financial responsibility for what happens if it screws up. I'd assert that, in the long term, putting Fukushima in a safer place (or fitting the diesel generators in the hardened containment area) would've been less expensive than the current mess; the problem is that the people who make the decisions are only responsible for the short-term cost. If you make the company/planner responsible for the long-term cost as well, suddenly it becomes in their interest to design responsibly.
tl;dr: Don't outlaw things. Just make the penalty for irresponsible use greater than the benefit.
EDIT: Also, my earlier point was about how people in America wail and gnash their teeth at the thought of Americans using nuclear power, but have no problem with other countries (including countries that want to kill us) doing the same thing. Japan deciding not to restart their reactors, whether a rational reaction or not, has nothing to do with hypocritical ideological positions in a different country.
(I think they should be evaluated for safety, reinforced (and more thoroughly prepared for weathering disasters), and then restarted until newer designs can be built in safer locations, myself. But then, what do I know? I'm not a politician.)
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.