50 Reasons We Should Fear the Worst from Fukushima

[MineralMan]

46. Yes, well, so do I. And my opposition and yours have had identical

results.

There was no single "smart ass" who decided any of this, to be quite frank. Nuclear armaments began to be developed under FDR. Nuclear power generation began under Eisenhower, and continued apace under JFK and Presidents thereafter. Both were opposed by many individuals and a few organizations. None were capable of ending either.

I stand opposed. You stand opposed. And yet, nuclear power generation continues. Fewer new plants are being built, and part of the reason for that is the opposition. Part of it is that they aren't economically superior to other power generation methods, as was promised early on.

There have been many, many nuclear weapons tests, including atmospheric ones. There have been some incidents with nuclear power plants. Both have released radioactive isotopes into the environment. The impact of that, globally, is not known, either real impact or theoretical impact. It may have caused, or may cause in the future, cancers, genetic changes, etc. Those may have caused, or may cause either minor or severe issues for humanity. We're not sure, yet, because not enough time has passed to observe the global effects.

In the meantime, our continuous release of carbon into the atmosphere is causing climate change. We know that. How bad the results o that may be, we're not sure, yet. It's the same thing, really. Both technologies are harmful to the environment and to humans. How harmful? Well, by the time we actually know that, it will be too late to prevent it.

Fukushima has causes some more man-made radioactive isotopes to enter the environment. That is not a good thing, obviously. Locally, near Japan, the impact will be real and fairly obvious in a rather short time. Globally? That's not so clear. The amount of the impact and its effects aren't known. They can't even be accurately estimated.

They may be large impacts or almost unnoticed. We do not know the answer to that, and won't for decades, at least.

Fukushima happened. It cannot be undone. Mitigating the continuing release is important, but will take years, if not decades. We can't change that, either. So what do we do?

Some will scream and shout and wave their arms madly. Others will shrug. In then end, neither group will change what has already happened. In the meantime, other nuclear power plants will continue to operate. In time, some of those will have events. All will produce radioactive waste which we don't know how to handle yet.

It's all bad. It should have been prevented. Some of us tried to prevent it. We failed. Now, we have the situation we have.

Here's what I think: I think we had better hope that those who are working on containing future releases from Fukushima succeed. I think we should continue to work toward stopping the building of new power plants and work toward shutting down the ones that are running. I think we should try to figure out what to do with the waste all of that will generate.

I don't think we should write false information in our efforts. I don't think we should ever do that. I think we should write truthful information that is not exaggerated or blown up beyond reality. I think those who do that damage the efforts of those who are trying to slow down and shut down this industry. Every exaggeration ends up being exposed for what it is. Every lie gets exposed as untrue. Each time that happens, some people will use those exaggerations and lies to point at those who are simply relaying the truth and to call them liars as well.

You will do as you please. I will ask you not to do that, each time you overstate, exaggerate, or spread false information. I suspect we will be at an impasse.