@vlogbrothers sorry to rain on ur parade hank. #nuclear

[AndrewStevenKnight]

She Hank Greened Hank Green. Impressive

[Nerfherder]

Omg the fact that a coal power plant is already more radioactive than we’d accept a nuclear reactor to be crazy

[teefkay]

She is absolutely correct. There is not a single coal fired or oil fired power plant in the USA (likely the world) that can pass the radiation emission or worker exposure requirements of a nuclear plant. This is simply an accident of history. Coal & oil fired plant began operating before anyone even thought about radiation exposures, so there were no requirements. But where does oil & coal come from? Answer: deep underground. What else is down there? Radioactive elements, because they are dense & sank into the ground as the earth formed. If you go into any mine, as you go deeper, the radioactive emission levels increase.

When nuclear plant arrived in the 1950s, the regulatory bureaucracy started imposing monitoring & exposure requirements. And they make them stringent. By the way, this also applies to all oil refineries, too. If anyone attempted to apply worker radiation requirements to oil refineries, they’d have to shut them all down.

Along with soot, exhaust gases (including carbon dioxide & bunches of others) coal & oil fired power plants release far more radioactivity into the environment than do nuclear plants. It’s just unmonitored.

[thoi]

That's very interesting! I want Hank's idea to work, but I also agree that any loosening of radioactivity regulations sounds like a public visibility nightmare.

[loydanderson-pak]

I wrote a paper in college regarding nuclear energy, and i just remember being so amazed at how dangerous and radioactive traditional coal and oil plants are compared to nuclear reactors.

[juan_w_fer]

That debate sounds like a good PR opportunity for nuclear/against coal!

[scottydog]

i kept expecting hank to pop back in, if theres a response to this god id love to hear it

[mitchellmclaughlin]

This is so interesting! It seems like a major thing holding Nuclear Power back is that we hold it to wayyyy higher safety standards than we hold any other form of power to.

[meursaultscourtroom]

This type of young person gives me some optimism for the future.

[spazzypotato]

It sucks that the 70s & 80s scared all the boomers away from nuclear.

[PershingOfficial]

Thank you for bringing this up. I wish more hardliners against new energy understood that coal power plants produce radioactivity.

[MixMeMcGee]

Oooh. That makes so much sense!
Dang, the world is complex. lol

[sarahloomis]

What if we changed regulations to be about how much radiation a nuclear power plant can ADD to a site, instead of how much total there can be?

[joehart]

Man, this is fascinating stuff. Thank you, internet!

[robertzarfas]

I’ve heard that the state capital building where I live has so much naturally radioactive marble that it would pass nuclear power plant regulations either.

[TerenceClark]

This video keeps popping up for me, but it really hits different for me now. My oldest kid is getting a degree in engineering physics and looking to slightly adjust track to go for either nuclear or plasma physics. This video feels like a little snapshot of her future in maybe 6 years or so.

[Efflorescentey]

One would think that they would simply have added restrictions to /new/ coal plants being built.

That’s silly, coal has way too much money to allow silly ‘laws’ to be formed.

[danielclyde]

Having to cleanse a coal plant of radioactivity to meet standards that only apply to nuclear plants is enough to make a grown man cry.

[phillyphakename]

What's the advantage of conversion? Being able to reuse the turbines and process water infrastructure is great, as is reusing the transmission and distribution infrastructure.

Can we minimize the distance for relocation, build a mile of T&D instead of 100 miles, and build a new power plant across the cooling lake?

I dont know how far this radioactivity travels, is it plausible to be close enough to use some of the infrastructure without being right on site? Is it even worth it with all the upgrades needed? That T&D might already be 50 years old, needing replacement whether you are upgrading the plant or not.

[williambustos]

So how do we clean up the coal fired plants to reduce radioactivity?