I think he's referring to Chernobyl, and possibly to the city of Pripyat. But he probably doesn't know about Pripyat......
Anyhow, he probably also doesn't know that not only did Chernobyl have so many things go wrong at one time (on an un-authorized experiment, no less), it was also a cheapie design, called "partial containment", that didn't enclose the reactor in another building, like we (generally, as far as I know) do in the US. Why do you think Three Mile Island wasn't actually that bad? It was sealed off from the atmosphere. Chernobyl reactor 4 was not. End of story.
Also, not many people realize that other reactors at Chernobyl were actually still producing power until the year 2000, and there are still workers there decommissioning it.
Anyway, basic understanding of what you're talking about is good.
Yeah, knowing the facts is a good thing. I remember in high school being told that the Chernobyl death count was in the thousands, and thus, nuclear power = ftl.
Interesting bit of information, though, considering that the real number was more around 56 (total number of deaths related to the incident as of 2004).
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I think he's referring to Chernobyl, and possibly to the city of Pripyat. But he probably doesn't know about Pripyat......
Anyhow, he probably also doesn't know that not only did Chernobyl have so many things go wrong at one time (on an un-authorized experiment, no less), it was also a cheapie design, called "partial containment", that didn't enclose the reactor in another building, like we (generally, as far as I know) do in the US. Why do you think Three Mile Island wasn't actually that bad? It was sealed off from the atmosphere. Chernobyl reactor 4 was not. End of story.
Also, not many people realize that other reactors at Chernobyl were actually still producing power until the year 2000, and there are still workers there decommissioning it.
Anyway, basic understanding of what you're talking about is good.
@JD
Yeah, knowing the facts is a good thing. I remember in high school being told that the Chernobyl death count was in the thousands, and thus, nuclear power = ftl.
Interesting bit of information, though, considering that the real number was more around 56 (total number of deaths related to the incident as of 2004).
http://www.uic.com.au/nip22.htm