Editorial: "The Most Unforgiving Technology in Human History"

The full dimensions of the Japanese nuclear disaster will not be known for many years. Individuals exposed to extreme radiation can suffer for days, weeks or years. Genetic damage is passed on for following generations. Thyroid cancers rates in children will go up.

Economic damage to Tokyo Electric, its shareholders and rate-payers will come to billions of dollars. Mr. Yukio Edano, Chief Cabinet Secretary of the Japanese government said, "If measures can be taken, we will be able to ensure the safety of the reactor." He seemed to be most concerned about Tokyo Electric`s reactor rather than the safety of the Japanese people.

The U.S. government has subsidized the nuclear industry with tax-payers` dollars for more than sixty years. Bankers, contrary to their enthusiasm for risky home loans, have shied away from loans for nuclear reactors. Accidents like Three Mile Island and the Tokyo Electric disaster, and the unknown cost of decommissioning old reactors no doubt are factors in the banking decisions.

Beyond the economic problems facing the nuclear industry are the following:

1. Radioactive waste disposal unsolved
2. Cost of security against terrorists
3. Trial-and Error reactor design
4. Need of evacuation when disasters strike
5. Overcrowded waste fuel pools
6. An abysmal record of waste storage for 60 years at Hanford, WA
7. Industry representatives dominating the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
8. Ineffective government (NRC) regulation

Design flaws (Chernobyl), human error (Three Mile Island) and tsunami s (Fukushima) are different caused of disasters. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission can influence reactor design, worker training and location of nuclear plants. Let`s hope it starts doing a better job than it has in past years. Of six of the plants designed by the builders of the Crystal River nuclear plant, four have had serious problems. (A fifteen foot long crack in the containment vessel has kept the plant at Crystal River shut down and unproductive for nineteen months.)

Nuclear plant workers, even if well trained, are caught between corporate managers that look at the bottom line and the safest action when disaster hits the plant. The decision to flood a plant with corrosive sea water becomes an economic decision that could be called human error.

Nuclear plants are placed near large sources of cooling water such as rivers and oceans, and near cities like New York City and Miami. Earthquakes, hurricanes and evacuation bottlenecks make past plant site decisions look dangerous.

If we want another nuclear plan within twenty-five miles of Cedar Key, are we ready to count on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to protect us?