ambra_wandsworth

I agree, public investments in the south are a waste of money having to deal with criminal organizations that control everything.

Fazio forgot as well the earthquake in 1908 :100,000 deaths between Sicily and Calabria.
That was a Tsunami as well, but at that time it was called seaquake..

chris120

In addition to what I wrote earlier I have to say that, on balance, I am pro nuclear on the basis that there really is no viable option for at least another 40 to 50 years when, hopefully, nuclear fusion should be available, Fusion is generically safer and the waste products are much less and much easier to deal with compared to fission waste. Fossil fuel burning carries its own dangers and is not infinite, so called alternative power is too variable to constitute more than about 15% (we can't shut factories down just because the wind drops).
Modern fission power stations are designed differently compared to the 60s and 70s technology at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station and are much safer, their emergency shut downs require no external electrical or human input and their emergency cooling systems, for the residual waste, also need no external power source or human intervention so something like this SHOULD not happen. Of course there could be other senarios that have not been looked at. Terrorist activity is considered today, crashing a 747 on a power station would not breach the reactor core even if it received a direct hit from one of the engine’s compressor shafts. An attack by an SAS style squad would, in all probability, be unsuccessful but I guess a knowledgeable insider might do some damage to an older style generator - it looks to me that both 3 mile island and Chernobyl were both fundamentally human error.

modicasa

I agree, public investments in the south are a waste of money having to deal with criminal organizations that control everything.

Lets not get carried away - there is the Camorra and the Ndrangheta in the north too, probably even a heavier presence than in the south, as there is more money to be made. Public investments arent a waste of money - it depends who controls them, and unfortunately we have governments who dont control anything except the busta that they receive in exchange for silence.

ambra_wandsworth

Mafia,Ndrangheta, Camorra were born in the south of Italy unfortunately, and they expanted up to the north, but their presence is still not as massive as in the south, thank God.

dina1965

Down here in the South we can't even manage to recycle our rubbish ... we can't manage to run the recently built (opened/closed/reopened) airport in Salerno ... how can we hope to run a nuclear power plant ...

modicasa

I defy you to find any public building programme in Lombardy or Piedmont that is not indirectly controlled by the Ndrangheta. It is true that the mafia clans were born in the south, but the north is in thrall to organised crime, whether it be Italian, Russian or ROmanian mafia, much more than you care to admit.

ononno

So, all you anti-nuclear fans, can you please spell out the viable alternatives?
ciao for now,
'o nonno

indiebird

I don't think it's up to us to spell out the viable alternatives. First we need to persuade big business to invest in research into viable alternatives. Money speaks volumes here and unfortunately the people who still control the world deal in what will make the most profit for them and their shareholders and not what is best for the rest of the people on the planet.

Why are we still talking about GM crops for example and my much beloved new phrase: 'food security' when the overwhelming majority of people are totally against GM? It's got nothing to do with doing even more research into it and why it's safe. People know in their hearts that it's wrong. This should be enough, but it isn't in a world run by big business and the resource-rich scientists they pay. We are wasting time, energy and resources going down this road when we should be looking at sustainable farming methods and new, gentler technologies.

For me it's the same with nuclear power. In my heart I know it's wrong. The waste is the biggest problem I have with it and the safety aspect. I'm not worried about it being 'in my back yard' either. I'm worried about what those in the third world will feel forced to have to deal with so we can carry on 'growing' all the time.

Unfortunately we don't listen to ourselves and what the universe tells us. We look to justify the ridiculous instead in the name of Big Corporations and their shareholders by using science.

modicasa

5 billion euros would put alot of foto voltaic panels on alot of houses - giving free energy for the forseeable future - unfortunately it wont help privatised ENEL make bigger profits if we all make our own electricity and sell the rest -

giodafa

It's official we're at war!! Do we really want to build new nuclear plants? Remember Italy is only 330 miles from Libia

ambra_wandsworth

I'm not up there, in Regione Lombardia, to know how everything is done and sorted, I'm not saying that politicians are saints in the north..but I wouldn't make any comparison between how things are "generally" sorted in different parts of this country as history speaks for itself.
If you feel it's like that, you will have your reasons.
I think we look at things with different eyes...

ambra_wandsworth

OT.. I fear retaliation...

Mr Posh

Possible places where they will be

http://www.abruzzo.tv/news/wp-conten...in-Italia1.jpg

This is where the 4 old ones are
Trino vercellese (reattore BWR - II generazione),
Caorso (PWR - assimilabile a III generazione o seconda avanzata),
Garigliano (PWR, come sopra)
Latina (di nuovo II generazione)

Interesting read http://world-nuclear.org/info/inf101.html

Anderson Council

There's an interesting article in today's Guardian about this subject (although the journalist seems a bit of an idiot to me!):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...apan-fukushima