U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > SCIENCE > ATOMIC CROCODILES THRIVING OUTSIDE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
ATOMIC CROCODILES THRIVING OUTSIDE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
December 14 2011
Homestead, FL – Many of the fears associated with nuclear technology has ultimately ended up being misplaced. While some of those fears could eventually come into play, things like a global apocalypse for example, the vast majority of things associated with the technology simply hasn’t come to pass and never will. Nuclear technology, all in all, has provided humanity with a net benefit and very little downside.
Accidents do happen though, as evidenced by the recent disaster in Japan, and when things go badly with nuclear technology it tends to go very bad. For the most part we have been pretty solid in terms of preventing accidents. Our paranoia over the technology has had a real impact on how we deal with safety issues and protocols, making us safer. On those occasion when things do go wrong, though, well things can get a little messy.
Though it is not a problem as yet, an odd occurrence outside the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant in Florida has raised some eyebrows and raised concerns about the potential long term effects of nuclear technology on wildlife, and the wildlife’s eventual impact on humans. Specifically, the concerns are about a surge in crocodile populations and any possible nuclear-fueled superpowers they may possess.
“We have seen in incredible rebound in the population in this area, ten-fold over the last twenty years which is something totally unlike the populations throughout the rest of Florida. It’s very exciting to see particularly because crocs have not been doing well across the state. This is a very welcome surge whatever it is that has prompted it,” said one researcher working in the area.
He also said that there was no evidence that the crocs had been mutated by atomic energy, but had no explanation as to why the population had surged in this one particular area.
The water ways next to the plant are used to cool the radioactive cores. Plant officials have long insisted that no waste bleeds into the water.
No other species has had a similar surge in the area, though that may be in part due to the large number of crocodiles eating them. Nuclear-mutations or not, crocodiles tend to eat a lot of things, which in turn reduces their populations.
“All crocodiles are dangerous but they are an essential part of the ecosystem. It’s great that they are starting to come back in this area and, while we should be a little concerned, it’s really hard to look a gift horse in the mouth. They are back, and the reasons almost don’t matter,” said Scrape TV Zoology analyst Cambridge Walker. “I think that unless they start to grow to ridiculous sizes or, say, develop some kind of armoured skin or something resembling superpowers that we really don’t have anything to worry about. In fact, it could provide us with a new path towards bringing back dying populations. Pretty soon we could see irradiated pandas or blue whales. I mean whatever helps, right?”
Atomic pandas would likely be just as sluggish as normal ones.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
NEWS > SCIENCE > ATOMIC CROCODILES THRIVING OUTSIDE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Science/pages-4/Atomic-crocodiles-thriving-outside-nuclear-power-plant-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side-2011-12-14.html |
TWEET IT! http://goo.gl/x4iix |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
