zlacker

> One big problem with collapse are the 400+ commercial nuclear reactors in the north hemisphere. Without connection to a working electric grid and regular diesel deliveries those will go boom and will spread enough radioactive material to make most of the land on Earth deadly for humans.

Seriously, where do people get these ideas from ? This unfounded fear of nuclear fission is a huge reason why we're in this mess to begin with.

>>Galaxe+(OP)
Dunning Kruger.

>>Galaxe+(OP)
What do you think happens with nuclear fuel when there is no electricity to cool it? Check what happened at Fukushima when the grid went down and the diesel generators were flooded.

>>boriss+n
If something catastrophic enough to instantly cut off there whole grid in the west happens while also ruining all the several backups most plants have, nuclear power plants will be the least of our troubles. Fukushima was a very old design and most plants in operation today don't need power for the cooling system after you jam in the control rods into the reactor to stop it.

>>Galaxe+Sm1
This is exactly what I'm saying - in case of a civilization collapse the safety of nuclear fuel will be the biggest problem. There is no magical way to cool the fuel without power - it produces a huge amount of heat and the only to avoid explosion is active water cooling.

>>boriss+bq1
yes but, by far most cooling systems doesn't need electricity after you lower the control rods and shut down the reactor, that was specific to fukushima.. and even if all 400 reactors melted down it would still be the least of our problems in such a scenario.