• A dam wrecking a valley is a best case scenario. Worst case is thousands dead.

              The worst case scenario for a nuclear station is a few dozen dead.

              coal ruins the planet.

              Also runs the air and water, coal residue is dumped in rivers.

              • Orcocracy [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                1 year ago

                I really don’t want to play top trumps over which tragic disaster is worse by measuring bodycounts, as this is all way too grim and I think we can agree that the worst case scenarios for all of these things are awful in their own distinct ways. But that number you put for nuclear is difficult to believe. Where did you find it?

                • The_Walkening [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                  1 year ago

                  IIRC Chernobyl amounted to about 46 people dead from the disaster itself, (the Fukushima incident did not kill anyone at the time it occurred IIRC, three mile island didn’t kill anyone) and while it did release a lot of radioactive material that did result it more cancers/excess mortality, coal burning releases about ten times more radioactive material than a nuclear reactor (coal has trace amounts of radioactive material in it). So even if we’re just comparing the hazards of radiation nuclear is probably the better/cleaner option if there’s a robust and quick response after incidents.

                  • Orcocracy [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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                    1 year ago

                    Yes coal is indeed very bad and needs go away immediately. But I’m not so sure if coal being bad makes radiation cancers from Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island, Sellafield, etc etc etc not worth caring about.