We have had a moratorium on building nuclear reactors for twenty five years. We have been very smart refusing the enticements of "probably safe, under some conditions" for a generation, most readers cannot remember a time when the headlines proclaimed some politician, ignorant of the public's disfavor, announcing the construction of a nuclear reactor in their city or state.
Now we have a crisis that once again teaches us the fallacy of this failed religion. Japan is importing water, Tokyo, the worlds largest city, the center, in many peoples mind, of the twenty first centuries modern economy, but in any case a vital linchpin in anyone's mind, of the worlds economy cannot provide safe water to its children, and it is importing water, and dispensing 3 small bottles to any family with small children. There are warnings about the economic fallout of electric parts shipments stopping, cars not shipping, food sales being banned blazing in the headlines.
The question now: Is it time to end that moratorium? Is Japan's cruel lesson the beginning of a new era in nuclear power? Is this lesson going to be a boost to nuclear power? Obviously not.
This lesson is a smack in the face, but it is clear nuclear is over. The great god, worshipped by its high priests around the world, has failed. The false deity of "power too cheap to meter" has fallen, exposed itself as a mask for profit and arrogance covering a risk too great to imagine.
Its "not very hidden" nature of being the ultimate scam of too big to fail is exposed, as we all once again are reminded, all nuclear's failures, are by law, forced on us, we must pay for the risk of nuclear. Found nowhere in the accounting of its acolytes and priests is the cost of disaster. The owners know the cost all too well. They saw the costs of disaster, and they corrupted politicians to make suing the nuclear power industry illegal. They went on to make the insurance they have to buy cover only the first portion of a cleanup the responsibility of their industry, and the rest falls to us, again by law.
The Nuclear "Too Big To Fail" Scam
We all are justifiably angry at the bailout of the Too Big To Fail Banks, no matter how "necessary" it was to prevent a collapse of the economy. It was necessary because we succumbed, (the politicians succumbed to the bribery and "financing") to the argument that derivatives and unregulated banking, and unlimited growth of the Banks was "safe" and good for America. How wrong they were. How badly the legislatures served us. Banks are too big to fail, because we allowed them to get that way.
The nuclear industry fails us in exactly the same way. They say we must pay for their risk (and their risk to us), they know its too expensive, they passed laws so they wouldn't have to pay, you will. That's the law. How horrendous that their bean counters can tell the failure would be too great to bear, but the solution is not to avoid and prevent the risk, it is to make us pay for it.
I know, they know, that if that law were removed, nuclear would not, would never, convince an investor to risk their own money in another reactor.
So the question we face now, do we continue with the Nuclear Too Big to Fail Program, with you waiting in line to pay like you paid for the banks, like you are still paying for the banks, for the next "we never thought that would happen" -"that couldn't happen unless" "who could have foreseen" crisis to destroy our public finances, or destroy our farmlands for what time period, to destroy our drinkable water, or do we say, the moratorium has become the memorial to a failed idea.
A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person (who has died) or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks!.
The most common type of memorial is the gravestone or the memorial plaque. Also common are war memorials commemorating those who have died in wars.
We can mourn. We can feel real sadness at our loss of an illusion. We can be unhappy that our dream was just a dream. We can be disappointed that so many hopes have been dashed, but then we must pick up the pieces and carry on. We have work to do.
Our Environmental Crisis Demands Our Complete Focus
Global warming is altering our world, the crisis grows worse each day. Islands are being swallowed up by the sea, the arctic is melting, the ice caps shrinking.
We have the greatest moral imperative of our time demanding all our energy, commitment and intelligence. It is staring us in the face.
The debate about the failed religion of nuclear power is distracting us from the unavoidable task of building a new energy infrastructure. This task will require well beyond a "moon landing" level of social commitment. More than a national struggle, it will require an effort that is unmatched in the history of humans on the planet. Europe has already moved to begin this great era. Germany, Belgium, and others have already moved their energy programs to massively build wind and solar installations to replace nuclear and carbon based energy systems. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created in Germany's wind and solar sectors. Our worldwide wind generated electrical power is now 179 GW, already 3% of total world generated power. That is without the largest economies committing themselves to the task. China moving to wind would double our output in a few years by itself, and we have seen nothing of a resurgent America finally committing our formidable economic and technological prowess to the momentous task. The task is before us, we can do it, of that there is no doubt, just planning and innovation and building. With building being the most important, the most fundamental and singularly most important part of the puzzle.
Even without any innovation, we have the knowledge, plans, skills and equipment to complete the task. But with research we can make the cost go down faster than the stock market hearing that Sarah Palin has been chosen as the Republican Nominee for President.
Our biggest impediment is a lack of commitment. We argue, we divide over completing plans, we are stuck in a circle of good activists, promising engineers and social planners debating over the direction to go. It is time to end the debate, save the planet, bury the failed god Nuclear (with all due respect and sadness) and turn to renewables.
This is an intervention. Like a family with a addicted violent parent, we are constantly fighting among ourselves about whether "it happen will again" - we are distracted by the next violent outburst, comfort each other after the last bender. Its over. Never again. Time to move on. We have work to do.
And in todays news:
Tokyo stores begin rationing amid radiation fears
China to Sell Outdated Nuclear Reactors to Pakistan
NRC Inspector:US Nuclear Plants Not Reporting Equipment Defects
More countries halt Japanese food imports
Radiation burns cause power plant evacuation
Support for Nuclear Power Melts Down. New Poll.
With new setbacks hitting the Japanese reactors almost daily, Pew found that 52 percent of Americans now believe more nuclear plants are a bad idea, versus only 39 per cent who support more reactions.Senate Republican leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, has declared that public policy should not be made in the midst of an environmental disaster. If history is a guide, powerful interests such as Big Oil and the nuclear industry are able to “right” their standing in public opinion as memories of disasters recede, and multi-million dollar advertising campaigns have an impact.
It is time to move on, with the wind at our back.