Today Humanity reached a very black milestone. It has been a quarter of a century since the partial meltdown in the number 4 reactor in Chernobyl, and I cannot believe that in these 25 years we appear to have come no further to making this supposedly safe technology actually safe.
25 years later, there are still thousands of cases of cancer/leukaemia that are COMPLETELY attributable to this disaster. There are STILL restrictions in the movement of livestock as far away from Chernobyl as the UK.
There has only been one comparable nuclear incident in these 25 years, and it was only a few months ago. The incident at the Fukishima power plant in Japan should have heightened calls for nuclear safety, or at least the investment in sustainable technologies.
Here in the UK, investments are being made in Wind Farms, Water Turbines, Solar Panels, and all the naysayers can say is "but I don't see them working therefore they are not working"
For these renewable energy projects to be seen as viable, they must make economic sense - therefore the periods when they run would be at times when the power to run them is cheaper. So, they use power when it's cheaper to run them and make money. It turns the concept on its head, and is a little like the tail wagging the dog, but once the capital for these projects has been repaid, these important pieces of technology can start to make a difference when they are needed, rather than when it is economically possible for them to run.
There is a project very close to Sheffield, which is looking at installing a variation of an archimedes screw to generate power through hydroelectric means, an ingenious and animal safe method. This was explained to me in some detail over the weekend, and it appears there is very little funding available for projects of this scope. So, lets all band together and save this planet, one screw at a time!
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