Iraqi Oil

[kandrathe]

Actually, Chernobyl, a graphite moderated light-water reactor, is a model that is more dangerous than most of the reactors used around the world. Most modern reactors are built so that the default action is reactor shut down. But even the accident at Chernobyl was a Homer Simpsonesque nightmare. Read about it here: OECD/NEA - Chernobyl, Chapter 1 - The site and accident sequence...

The severity of TMI (which was nothing when compared to Chernobyl), the only US accident, was also generally due to operator errors. Three Mile Island Event

Oh, this site was very interesting as well: The Nuclear Tourist

Pete's points in the post below regarding deaths prompted me to add this; Most people do not think about the pollution we take for granted with coal fired plants. While the releases Pete speaks of were bad, the radiation is traceable, and therefore removeable. The heavy metals from coal fired plants literally rain down on us daily, have no half-life and are hard to detect and impossible to remove from the environment.

Out of the entire US electric industry, coal-fired power plants contribute 96% of sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2), 93% of nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx), 88% of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) and 99% of mercury emissions.