Question by Lara: Why are nuclear power plants ever built in the Ring of Fire?
The Ring of Fire is the zone around the edges of a tectonic plate with lots of earthquakes and volcanic activity. Nuclear power plants become exploding nuclear bombs when they get hit with a powerful earthquake. Why does anyone risk this horror?
Best answer:
Answer by T.J.
The plants in Japan are obviously having problems, but the are not “exploding nuclear bombs”. They survived the quake very well but not the tsunami. We need to learn from this and make our plant even safer.
Japan has few options for electricity. They have no natural resorces like coal, oil, or natural gas to use in generating plants. Even if you covered the entire nation with wind turbines and solar panels it would not be enough and it would be very expensive and use up valuable agriculture land. They need electricity to keep the economy going. With out cheap electricity their economy would suffer greatly and the people would be in poverty. They believe it is worth the risk.
Add your own answer in the comments!
One Response
The plants aren’t really nuclear bombs, but they are definitely ‘dirty bombs’. They have just announced that the workers fighting to save the plant have been evacuated, because the radiation is too high. This is rapidly becoming the *worst disaster in world history*, and all of those people who claim that nuclear power is “clean, safe and efficient” will be personally to blame for possibly millions of deaths. Those people have been denying the risks for decades, and now they are in total denial about this worst-case scenario.
Placing nuclear plants in the Ring of Fire is ignorance and stupidity of the worst order. The plants are melting down, radiation is escaping into the atmosphere, and the workers are running for their lives. Anybody who says otherwise is lying.