by Westley Price » Sun Mar 20, 2011 2:14 pm
The Koeberg Plate has been stable for quite some time and all the major (by our standards) earthquakes have been quite some distance inland.
Fuscus, you need very cold water in close proximity to cool the reactor, so NorthWest or most provinces are out. Only the west coast will suffice.
The reason the Japanese reactors are melting down is they are VERY primitive plants and they rely on old technology. They use external power to pump water into the reactor to cool it. The earthquake itself had little effect on the reactor, but the power cuts broke the power, which in turn stopped cooling of the reactor and thus melt down. They do have back-up generator, but these were damaged by the tsumani.
The newer nuclear reactors use internal energy to power the pumping of cold water, so something like this occurring is very slim.
And contrary to popular belief, nuclear power is "cleaner" than coal power. Even making solar panels results in so much pollution that you might as well be using coal power. It might be cheaper, but certainly not "cleaner".
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin