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Japan and the Nuclear Nightmare

Japan and the Nuclear Nightmare

The events of the past several days in Japan are in many ways beyond the scope of the mind to comprehend.  Thousands of lives were swept away in an instant.  I walked around the World Trade Center on September 12, 2001 and had a very hard time then being able to grasp the enormity of the destruction.  I cannot imagine the shock that the Japanese are experiencing.

The danger from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is an impediment to the ability of the Japanese authorities to respond to other relief efforts and must be a further terrible psychological burden to a nation subjected to the ravages of the atomic bomb.

One report from this morning said:  “Operators fear that if they cannot establish control, despite increasingly desperate measures to do so, the reactors could experience meltdowns, which would release catastrophic amounts of radiation.”  Phew!

Robert Alvarez, a leading expert on and longtime critic of nuclear power, had this to say yesterday at this update for the Institute of Policy Studies:  “Japan’s government and nuclear industry, with assistance from the U.S. military, is in a desperate race to stave off multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns — as well as potential fires in pools of spent fuel.”

While the government and its engineers and scientists are working desperately to contain the situation with the reactors, to properly evacuate the area, and to distribute doses of potassium iodine pills to serve as a buffer from possible contamination from the highly radioactive isotope iodine-131, there has been, as you would expect, tremendous concern shown around the world about other reactors – and the future.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in the Fall that she wanted to extend the life of the nuclear plants there.  I reported here on the reaction to this and the efforts in Germany to phase out nuclear power on the schedule that had previously existed.  The Germans were out again this weekend in force.  Der Spiegel reports here that “…former German environment minister Sigmar Gabriel, who heads the center-left, opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD), called for an ‘international re-evaluation of nuclear policies’ following the catastrophe in Japan.”  Merkel ordered comprehensive safety checks and is backing away from her plans to extend the service of the existing plants.  Huge victory for sanity!

Japan disaster may mean setback for U.S. nuclear industry is the headline from the Washington Post yesterday.  Peter Bradford, another prominent critic of the industry, is quoted:  “The nuclear renaissance in the U.S. was on the rocks in any case.  There’s no way this is a positive for a technology that’s dependent entirely on political support.”  (Alvarez and Bradford spoke eloquently at a debate in late November on which I reported.)

One financial analyst wrote that “The severe nuclear incident in Japan has put a global nuclear renaissance into question.”  The Bloomberg item in which this quote appears gives a good snapshot of the state of the industry.

At the FT, one reporter looks at the implications for China.  Her colleague looked here at India.

A press release yesterday from Greenpeace says what I think needs to be said – and I have tried to say here often at my blog and elsewhere:  “Nuclear reactors are a dirty and dangerous power source, and will always be vulnerable to the potentially deadly combination of human error, design failure and natural disaster.  Greenpeace is calling for the phase out of existing reactors around the world, and no construction of new commercial nuclear reactors. Governments should instead invest in renewable energy resources that are not only environmentally sound but also affordable and reliable.”  Well said indeed.

For more, the Union of Concerned Scientists has been, for many years, an excellent resource for information on nuclear power and its dangers.  They have been right on top of developments since the situation started to get out of control in Japan.

 

Author

Bill Hewitt

Bill Hewitt has been an environmental activist and professional for nearly 25 years. He was deeply involved in the battle to curtail acid rain, and was also a Sierra Club leader in New York City. He spent 11 years in public affairs for the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and worked on environmental issues for two NYC mayoral campaigns and a presidential campaign. He is a writer and editor and is the principal of Hewitt Communications. He has an M.S. in international affairs, has taught political science at Pace University, and has graduate and continuing education classes on climate change, sustainability, and energy and the environment at The Center for Global Affairs at NYU. His book, "A Newer World - Politics, Money, Technology, and What’s Really Being Done to Solve the Climate Crisis," will be out from the University Press of New England in December.



Areas of Focus:
the policy, politics, science and economics of environmental protection, sustainability, energy and climate change

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