The nuclear disaster associated with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is a true tragedy. An equal or greater tragedy will be our collective recoil from nuclear power.
Nuclear is not perfect, but wind kills birds, gas is finite, oil kills poor nations (the locals anyway), and green house gasses kill everyone.
My idea: New reactors on Superfund sites. The not in my backyard factor is not an issue. New reactors can be safer than existing ones, and when we screw up, well . . . It's like spilling coffee on your painting shirt.
I know, it's slightly naive, but it's no more naive than thinking there is enough oil, coal, or clean air to heat, cool, and comfort all of us.
I was in favor of nuclear power until I talked to an old guy who spent his career working in the industry. He told me that the problem with nuclear power is not any deficiencies in the technology, which is sound, but comes from political and economic pressures to make it cheaper and cheaper at the cost of safety. He said that the top goverment regulators are just appointed cronies with no background in nuclear engineering. Their political agenda is to promote themselves and do so by making the industry they regulate seem safer, cleaner and cheaper than it really is. Numbers get fudged, leaks get covered up and downplayed. And the nuclear plants hire lobbiest to push for less stringent regulation and to allow for older, outdated and unsafe plants to stay in business. That plant in Japan shouldn't have been operating. It was outdated. There are a number of plants in the US that shouldn't be running. But it's dam near impossible politically to get them shut down. That's our world where corporations have more political power than the entire voting population. So, I agree with you in theory. Nuclear power can be great, but I don't trust human beings enough to harnass that power safely.
ReplyDeleteHope you guys are well!
Pete