Saturday, March 12, 2011

RANT: Nuclear Hubris, Japanese Style

I, like millions of people around the world, had barely gotten over the news that Japan had been hit by a huge earthquake and devastating tsunamis, only to awake today to the news that one of their nuclear power stations, that at Fukushima, had suffered a huge explosion.

Smoke rising from Fukushima plant No 1 after an explosion at the Japanese nuclear power station

The repeated footage of the said explosion on all the major international TV stations only made it look even more real.

Already nuclear experts from around the world have been offering their various and varied opinions on what happened, what is still happening and what might happen at Fukushima.

I noticed that few of them were willing to be drawn into what the worst case scenario might be. No wonder - it would only serve to highlight for the BLOODY UMPTEENTH TIME just how unsafe nuclear power can be!

So far it's not looking 'that bad' - and hopefully Fukushima will not attain the same grim celebrity status as Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. I can only hope that is really the case, both for surrounding communities and the (far wider) natural environment.

Unfortunately, it is at times like this that rabidly anti-nuclear people such as myself are not only vindicated but with that feeling that comes with being correct about something you take no pleasure in being correct about.

For all the advances in nuclear safety, for all the huge amounts of money spent on spin in making people believe that nuclear is a 'green' and 'clean' technology and a way to 'combat' climate change, I absolutely must ask:

- Would everyone be freaked out and countless experts be on international television stations had a giant wind farm been knocked out?

- Would everyone be freaked out and countless experts be on international television stations had a field of giant solar power panels been wiped out?

Would everyone be freaked out and countless experts be on international television stations had a giant geothermal facility been taken out?





Exactly. And that is why nuclear power should never, ever, EVER be considered a viable part of our energy future.Do you get my point?
 


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