THE SERIOUS PERILS OF NUCLEAR ENERGY

The unique dangers of nuclear power should give us pause. Every day, our 104 nuclear reactors turn out "spent fuel" that we simply don't have a clue what to do with. Mostly it gathers in pools like those you may have heard about at the Dai-Ichi power station in Fukushima, Japan, except that ours are more densely packed. These pools, it turns out, are even more dangerous than reactors themselves. While the American public may be misled by the tsunami of misinformation pooh-poohing the idea of risk, industry leaders themselves are not deluded. The long standing Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act severely limits their liability in case of meltdown. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) did not have such a guarantee, and may well wash out to sea on a tide of lawsuits. However, our companies are exempt. Our bankers are similarly savvy. For the most part, they steer clear of financing nuclear reactors without federal loan guarantees in case their operator goes belly up. Reactors are phenomenally expensive to build, renowned for immense cost overruns, and subject to agonizing delays. These risks are on top of the mischief caused by their escaped neutrons. Obligingly, the latest federal budget proposal includes $36 billion to cover loan guarantees for new reactors. What a boondoggle. Another advantage the industry has is the length of time it takes for irradiated victims to die. Most end up with cancer, which incubates and kills rather slowly. Thus, there is always the argument that many of the sufferers would have gotten cancer anyway. The scope of the disaster is never plain as it was with, say, Union Carbide's Bhopal calamity. But the deaths are no less real. Health statisticians calculate that by now ther are over 900,000 victims who have died from the Chernobyl accident.

TIME TO ABANDON NUCLEAR POWER

Here in America, we have the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to protect us from accidents. It's fondly known in the trade as the "Sleeping Watchdog." Recently, the Union of Concerned Scientists faulted the NRC's handling of 14 serious plant incidents. And those are just the ones that were reported. Further, the NRC has recommended that Americns presently in Japan evacuate to at least 50 miles from Fukushima. But its offical emergency evacuation zones around our own reactors stretch only 10 miles from accident sites. Fifty mile evacuation zones would include New York City, which is only 25 miles south of the Indian Point nuclear power station. Meanwhile, that outmoded plant's corporate operator is now applying for a 20 year permit extension. Nuclear power boosters claim that the industry can help slow climate change because the way it generates electricity doesn't release carbon into the atmosphere. However, entire coal-fired power plants are devoted to processing uranium ore for nuclear reactors, and tanker-loads of oil are burned for the mammoth construction projects required to build them. Moreover, uranium mining can poison groundwater. Indeed the nuclear industry is so based on peril and profit that lying becomes increasingly inevitable. Japan is the momentary leader in post-disaster prevaricating. But the United States is near the top in danger-denying deception. We ought to recognize the preposterous level of risk involved and avoid catastrophic accidents. Lets abandon this whole nuclear business right now.