Nuclear power

[Anomalocaris]

Allow me to play devil's advocate a bit here. (For rhetorical purposes.)

First, we can acknowledge that, with climate change on our plate, the benefits outweigh the risks of nuclear power. But there are still risks. Chernobyl. Fukushima nuclear disaster.

And isn't solar activity a concern? (I'm asking. Because I don't really know the science involved.) Isn't it bad if we install mini nuclear plants all over the place and then get hit with a barrage of solar activity? Couldn't that lead to potential meltdowns all over the place?

Again. I'm just being rhetorical here, and maybe hoping to learn something.

Yes, there are risks. But the risks depend, to some extent, on the type of plant built. Chernobyl didn't have many safeguards that are standard today.

Fukushima, on the other hand, was a major disaster. But even there, we can compare the damage done to what a coal plants emits on a daily basis.

As for solar activity, I have no idea what you are saying. I guess there is a possibility of a large solar flare taking out the electric grid, but that wouldn't make the nuclear plants any more or less risky. It depends on what safety measures they have installed for the case of a power failure.

Well, Chernobyl accident actually occurred during a test of the ability of the plant to safely shutdown in the case of massive power failure on the power grid.

admittedly the staff at Chernobyl completely ignore the checklist for how to shut down the reactor in such an emergency, and in addition undertook a series of highly unusual operating decisions before the test, that all contributed to the accident.    

it may be funny to say, but if they just left the controls to the 1960 era soviet computer that normally babysat the plant, everything would have been fine.    that is a data point on safety of human/computer control that seems to always be left out of discussions on the topic.