At a recent party I met a nuclear physicist. The summation of our discourse was that in theory nuclear power is the perfect energy source but there is a big problem when you factor in Mother Nature and humans. As we have seen with Japan`s recent disaster, Mother Nature and humans sure do muck up that perfect theory. But there is more to it than just that. There are several reasons that nuclear power is a poor choice for our nations energy future. Here are some of those reasons. Recently the governments of both Sweden and Germany announced that they will phase out nuclear power over the next 10 and 20 years, respectively. It kind of makes you wonder what they know that America doesn`t know. Let`s start at the beginning and see. In the 1950`s nuclear power was toted as the new inexpensive energy source of the future but the reality is far different. Currently there are 116 nuclear power plants producing electricity at 65 locations throughout the country. When you look at the utilities that own these plants the rates that they charge for electricity are generally the highest in the country. In addition to this they are not accounting for the cost of decommissioning the plants and disposing of the spent fuel rods. Many scientists estimate that these expenses will be far greater than the initial construction cost. Plus the U. S. government has already subsidized the industry to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars and continues to do so thus taking money away from subsides for renewable energy resources. Remember that these plants and nuclear waste will have to be properly stored and protected for thousands of years. Does that sound realistic? This brings up the safety issue, pretty big issue since lives will depend on it. Almost all of the licensed nuclear power plants in the U. S. are more than 30 years old and are operating at more capacity than the original license allowed. Now operators are applying to extend the licenses for an additional twenty years. During all of this time nothing has been done to devise a solution to the ever growing volume of spent fuel, thousands of tons of highly radioactive used reactor rods being kept in pools on site and more being stored all of the time. And when or if a waste solution is discovered, then all of that radioactive waste will possibly be trucked all over the country with even more safety concerns. At some plants they now store the spent fuel rods in pools in the attic above the reactor because they ran out of room at the initial storage facility. My grandmother also stored stuff in her attic, what a great idea. Now bring in the fact that the regulators and the industrial big wigs are using a revolving door working for both parties at different times. About 1/3 of the U. S. population lives within 50 miles of a nuclear reactor. In most cases over the last 30 years population around the plants have greatly increased but safety and evacuation plans have never been updated since the 70`s. Are you feeling safe yet? It is not the clean source of energy that is advertised to be. From the mining, to milling, processing, enrichment, fuel fabrication and irradiation in reactors, radioactive waste is produced polluting air, water, land and people. If there is a large scale radioactive accident it won`t be as easy as an oil spill but instead the aftermath will last for hundreds if not thousands of years. In addition to all of that uranium is a finite resource, just like oil we will eventually run out of it. Due to a U. S. law, atomic energy producer`s liability is limited to 10.8 billion dollars per accident. Our society will pay any difference over that amount. That is our government paying with our tax dollars. Plus if you read your homeowners insurance policy closely, your insurance does not cover you for a nuclear accident. In this case you pay unless you can get restitution from our government or the offending power company. But it doesn`t really matter because you might not be allowed to ever see your house again due to high radiation levels. Another point is that these plants produce material that could be used to produce a dirty bomb. This is the biggest fear of the National Security Agency with regards to terrorist activities. Conservation and alternative renewable sources of energy would seem to be a much better choice. Think about it. If a windmill that is producing energy has an accident and falls over, it won`t affect the land and everyone on it within 50 miles for hundreds or thousands of years. Is atomic power really worth the risk and expense? | 