Nuclear power needed for the future
At a time when nuclear energy is gaining in popularity worldwide, will the aftermath of Japan’s most powerful earthquake in history create fear of nuclear energy as a power source similar to what occurred after Chernobyl and Three Mile Island?
Although the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station accident is ranked as the world’s worst civilian nuclear disaster and was a tragedy for the people it affected, it also afforded opportunities to learn. Many individuals who received high doses of radiation that should have resulted in death are doing fine after 25 years. Likewise, many of the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are also doing quite well, despite receiving supposedly harmful doses 65 years ago.
At the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station, the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear energy, its TMI-2 unit suffered a partial meltdown but there were no deaths or injuries to plant workers or members of nearby communities.
Unlike at Chernobyl where radioactive clouds spewed out when it exploded in 1986, the Dailchi 1 reactor north of Tokyo expelled only a small amount of radiation as a measure to ensure its stability. It is true that high doses can be deadly, but fear mongers have for many years been telling the public to worry about doses which do not reach the fatal level. In fact, low doses of atomic radiation are a natural part of the earthly environment.
Given the media hype of impending global doom and gloom being expressed in the Daily Herald over several nuclear power plants that are having some difficulty providing post shutdown cooling, it is not surprising that anti-nuclear activists see their chance to step forward with long standing agendas to influence public opinion against a form of energy that is reliable, clean, green, safe, and gives the biggest bang for the buck!
Nuclear power represents a wave into the future. This nation must catch the wave by building nuclear plants without delay, and saving older plants like The Zion Station from decommissioning, or face frequent blackouts because America did not have the foresight to keep pace with its energy needs.
Nancy J. Thorner
Lake Bluff