Comments on Jo Hayes: Forgotten Chernobyl? I haven't

Understanding does not necessarily mean control. ...

2008-03-29T23:47:00.000Z

Understanding does not necessarily mean control. It is not enough if we cannot control the reaction when it goes wrong - and we can't. it is an inherently dangerous technology that uses unstable matter. The Chernobyl disaster was due to management failure as much as to a so-called flaw - i.e. that it went into meltdown according to laws of physics but not as people intended. It is not just the Soviet design used at Chernobyl that is dangerous. Three Mile Island was not built to the Chernobyl design. Parts wear out, there are management failures, people make mistakes. Only last July a Japanese reactor - again not of the Soviet design - had a radioactive leak as the result of an earthquake.
Tristan, as far as I am concerned you can do whatever you like as long as it doesn't harm other sentient beings. That restricts your options quite a bit but is not authoritarian. It is the State that is being authoritarian by imposing on an unwilling population a highly dangerous technology which the private sector would never build without State backing.

For fear of defending Tristan (something I rarely ...

2008-03-29T00:51:00.000Z

For fear of defending Tristan (something I rarely do), I have a Masters degree in Nuclear Reactor Technology and my undergraduate dissertation was on the Chernobyl accident and its implications for modern European and American reactor designs, and I can confidently say that his description of matters is pretty spot on.

I personally visited the Chernobyl area for two da...

2008-03-28T22:40:00.000Z

I personally visited the Chernobyl area for two days in June 2006 with a friend and former resident of Pripyat. We toured the Chernobyl Plant (including the Reactor 4 control room), several of the abandoned villages, and Pripyat. I have posted a photo journal of my trip at:

My Journey to Chernobyl: 20 Years After the Disaster

Mm, Tristan, your expert opinion is a great comfor...

2008-03-28T20:31:00.000Z

Mm, Tristan, your expert opinion is a great comfort given that you describe yourself as a software developer.

It was not a routine test. It was an experiment ca...

2008-03-28T17:52:00.000Z

It was not a routine test. It was an experiment carried out on a flawed reactor design, which the United Kingdom has never used, and naturally never will.

We havn't forgotten Chernobyl, but we now understand it, and why it would never have happened in the UK and why UK reactors are safe (and modern ones even more so).

I am glad people won't stand for reductions in living standards. That will act as a break on the authoritarians who seek to destroy our lifestyles because they disapprove.

While the government may be able to forget it, hav...

2008-03-28T13:10:00.000Z

While the government may be able to forget it, having visited orphanages, children's hospitals in Ukraine and the main cancer hospital in Kiev I can never forget the human price this routine test turned out to have.