From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,60e2922351e0e780 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-11-19 07:41:35 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!border2.nntp.ash.giganews.com!border1.nntp.ash.giganews.com!firehose2!nntp4!intern1.nntp.aus1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nntp.comcast.com!news.comcast.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 09:41:34 -0600 Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 10:41:32 -0500 From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: OT: Nuclear Waste (Was Re-Marketing Ada) References: <3FB22125.1040807@noplace.com> <3FB3751D.5090809@noplace.com> <_eydnYB-uYJw1yeiRVn-vg@comcast.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.34.214.193 X-Trace: sv3-g3i5KsAzBZV93kVgVLAMbmanncNJr5M308/lPlXVZZwQT/f+9LoY9UgY91D56jzJIt0/nd0ko/TrxXR!zr/Y16R0jP9hcSjBe37IdMRWVzwqPVUtnJwBHMw9CSxerAIWH+AVpkmSTgQpWg== X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-DMCA-Complaints-To: dmca@comcast.net X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.1 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:2677 Date: 2003-11-19T10:41:32-05:00 List-Id: 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.