Re: OT: Nuclear Waste (Was Re-Marketing Ada)

From: Robert I. Eachus (rieachus_at_comcast.net)
Date: 11/19/03 

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 10:41:32 -0500

Russ wrote:

> That study and others have found that a nuclear meltdown would have to
> occur every two weeks to equal the damage done by the *routine*
> emissions from coal-fired power.

I grew up in Pennsylvania. There you often see the words "coal mine" in
the news, followed by "disaster" and preceded by "another." To put that
comment in perspective, coal mining is infinitely more dangerous than
any other type of mining (including uranium). In fact during the
seventies some genius had the idea of splitting all the non-coal mining
supervision from the government agency responsible for investigating
coal mining disasters because that group was overworked. The man Reagan
appointed as the second head of this agency then spent his time lobbying
Congress to put himself out of a job. There was nothing to investigate,
and mining companies bought the same equipment as coal mines, but it was
way overengineered for other types of mines.

For example in coal mines, "coal damp" a mixture of carbon monoxide and
methane can kill you if you breathe it, but it is also explosive over a
wide range of concentrations in air. So coal mining equipment is
designed to never spark. You don't need that in non-coal mines, but
there is no manufacturing advantage to having two designs.

But worse is what coal mining has done to the landscape around Scranton
and in other coal-mining areas. The acid runoff makes it difficult for
plants to grow, and of course plants with deep roots have it worse. So
mudslides are an additional threat even if you are nowhere near the
tailings. (They can block rivers and streams causing flooding.)

Oh, and don't forget the "brown lung" disease that often kills soft coal
miners. So it is no wonder that the miners both the companies and the
miners themselves much prefer open pit mines to underground mining.

And that's not all. In the early sixties a fire started in an abandoned
coal mine near Centralia, Pa. Eventually the entire town was evacuated
due to carbon monoxide from the fire under the town accumulating in
basements and killing residents. (The federal government paid for the
evacuation, and with good reason. The federal government tried to put
the fire out by flooding the mine--which is what caused the large
amounts of carbon monoxide: 3C + 2 H20 --> CH4 + 2CO.) 

-- 
                                           Robert I. Eachus
100% Ada, no bugs--the only way to create software.