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Great photographs. Especially the cars in the grass starting to be overgrown are a 'great' and instant classic post apocalyptic image. Makes you think about the costs of our 'innovations' in general too. This is the wasteland of nuclear energy gone wrong, but there are other wastelands like this one, albeit figuratively speaking.
Those cobwebs in the supermarket are something else! (close to the end)
I'm surprised that the author still calls nuclear energy dangerous, especially since he comes from the same country I do. Coal did much more damage to us, and not having a single nuclear power plant in the whole country is really damaging to our environment.
[1] http://www.podniesinski.pl/portal/fukushima/#attachment_9454
„An immense experience, not comparable to anything else. Silence, lack of cries, laughter, tears and only the wind answers. Prypiat is a huge lesson for our generation.”
Have we learnt anything since then?"
That makes one think.
I think Scott Alexander put it best. Before starting Slate Star Codex, he had this to say about Fukushima and nuclear power[1]:
> You know what kills more people per year than nuclear plants?
> Everything.
...
> When you hit a nuclear plant with the fifth largest earthquake ever recorded, then immediately follow that with a twenty foot high tsunami, and then it explodes, it still kills fewer people than an average coal plant does every single year when everything goes perfectly.
Nuclear power is far from perfect, but it is the safest energy technology in existence. Curtailing it creates more suffering and death, but in a diffuse way that can't be photographed or humanized.
> The disaster could have been forseen and prevented. As in the Chernobyl case, it was a human, not technology, that was mainly responsible for the disaster. It's always easy to say that with hindsight. Remind me, how frequent are Magnitude 9 earthquakes resulting in massive Tsunami? Of course you can plan for everything, but there's always something that occurs you did not think of. The good thing is, we learn from…
Unfortunately the anti-nuclear movement won and we are unable to build those safe subsequent plants because of political pressures.
Half of nuclear reactors in the US, and likely the world, are over 30 years old.[1] They are licensed for 40 years [2], but can apply for a 20 year extension [2]. The last new reactor came online in 1996, and the next one is likely to come online this year.
The Chernobyl disaster happened in 1986, 29 years ago. It will be at least another 10 years, 30 being likelier, before all those things we learned become entirely useful.
[1] http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/15/news/economy/nuclear_plants_...
I found the pictures fascinating, but the accompanying text marred my enjoyment. Considering the circumstances of the Fukushima disaster, the anti-nuclear sentiment really irked me. The Tōhoku earthquake & tsunami killed close to 20,000 people. The author completely ignored those victims. Instead, he focused on Fukushima, which will cause around 150 deaths from cancers. For every tragedy created by Fukushima, there a…
It's only relevant if you weigh two options against each other. So comparing coal to nuclear is kind of valid, except that coal is not the only alternative to nuclear power. Also, if you really want to nitpick, then you'd also have to count the lives that could have been saved with the money that now goes into cleaning up Fukushima, and so on and so on.
Tsunami deaths are not an alternative to radiation deaths, so the comparison is bullshit.
Edit: I would like to reply to your comments, but HN doesn't let me post more comments atm. Fwiw, I don't think you are correct in claiming nobody campaigns against coal power. For a recent example, look at Elon Musks presentation of their battery. Also, remember global warming? I seem to remember a lot of articles about that, which tend to mention fossil fuels as culprits.
As much of a tragedy this was, this is still nothing compared to the damage coal is doing to our society. I live in a coal mining town that also has a coal-fueled power and heating plant - the number of people who suffer in some way due to this is also huge. People get lung disease due to coal dust. In winter, everything is literally covered in soot - snow is blackish, with dark dots on everything. Pretty much every…
I leave the judgement up to you, just wanted to point out some confirmation bias in your convictions.