Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Gerrit Kuehn on Sunday July 01 2018 at 14:17:

MV> I say closing down the nuclear plants is a mistake. Especially closing
MV> down the research reactors. we loose the expertise than we one day may
MV> need...

Once again, I agree. Unfortunately, panic and misinformation are
self-reinforcing factors.

Tschernobyl was a graphite brick reactor, nothing like anything we have in the
west but in the 1950s common in the USSR. And the experience gained in the
meltdown would help prevent a repeat even in this type of reactor nowadays.
Although they have no longer been built for many decades.

Fukushima was built on the coast of an island near the "belt of fire" in the
Pacific and the tectonic plates causing this. And was not destroyed by any
failure in the reactor itself, but by a tsunami that engulfed not only the
reactor but also the surreounding countryside. When has central Europe
experienced it's last tsunami? Seems to me that the Iranians have the best
chance of a nuclear catastrophe, building nuclear plants near their northern
border, where the seismic activity is the greatest in a country that is
unstable at best.

But logic never helps, when panic reactions govern populations and politics.
"Do something - ANYthing!!!" is then the order of the day.

So things are, as they are. It seems to me that the entire German population is
so freaked out by events that occurred under conditions totally unthinkable in
Germany that any appeal to reason is wasted breath. Or an invitation to get
yourself lynched by the mindless mobs.

So like it or not, I suppose we'll have to resign ourselves to electrical power
shutdowns, blackouts and whatever the future will bring - and "pride" ourselves
on how "environmentally friendly" Germany is. What a bunch of crap!

Cheers, Bob

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