Throwing the baby out with the (heavy) bath water...

You had to know this was coming.

With the one/two natural disaster punch given to Japan last week causing explosions at the Fukushima Nuclear Plant and the subsequent releases of low level radiation into the air, people have decided that Nuclear Power is a bad idea and should be stopped completely.

Germany has decided to close 7 of their nuclear plants immediately until the summer, and that they may never be re-opened  (To be fair these plants were scheduled to close in three months anyway...however the precedent has been set).   They’ve gone a step further to suggest that other countries in the European Union should examine their power plants.  Switzerland has put a hold on all nuclear plant construction.  On a closer to home level, I have had a number of friends say that they knew all along that Nuclear Power was a bad idea and it has to be stopped.

Now frankly I get the feeling that way too many people believe that the plants are being operated and run by people like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqwS0Ew77WE&feature=related

These plants have incredible safety guidelines that they must adhere to and are subject to inspections and regulations that are designed to keep the public safe at all times, while providing the power our society needs to exist.

Let me say that I am not minimizing the dangers of what can happen when these natural disasters occur.  When something goes wrong...it can go very wrong.  The environmental damage that could occur should this incident get to be any greater than it already is would be nothing short of catastrophic and have an effect on the health and economies of the world for years to come.  There is damn good reason to be concerned.

 But let’s take a look at that...

There have been around 20 “incidents” at nuclear power plants all over the world since 1951, with very few of them resulting in radiation leaked into the environment.  We think of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and now Fukushima, because of the severity of the incident, but forget that for 6 decades nuclear power has provided safe clean power from hundreds of plants throughout the world. (There are over 440 plants in the world with another 60+ in construction)

Taking this accident and saying it’s time to do away with Nuclear power is like looking at the over 50,000 people killed in vehicle collisions in a year and saying that we have to get rid of cars because they aren’t safe.  It’s preposterous.

Stress test these plants... absolutely.  Re-examine the safety precautions that are implemented on these plants in the cases of natural disasters and the like...positively.  Just like we are constantly looking for ways to make cars safer with seatbelts and airbags and anti-lock brakes... so should we look at ways to make sure that nuclear power remains safe. 

And while we are at it... let’s see if we can’t get solar, hyrdo and wind power put into high gear so that we can provide clean alternatives for our power needs so that maybe one day we can have the safest, cleanest, most efficient form of power production possible.  There is absolutely no need to go back to the days where we pollute the daylights out of our world based on this one incident alone.

And for crying out loud can we in North America please not rush to the pharmacies and stock up on potassium iodide!  There is no need to protect ourselves from radiation poisoning, especially when there is no imminent threat.  Let’s use a little common sense here!   There is nothing quite like protecting ourselves from being poisoned, by poisoning ourselves with needless medication.