"You cannot have nuclear power without public trust."

[Zenlitened]

From the Associated Press, via the New York Times, some reaction to the Tokyo nuclear plant shutdown resulting from Monday's quake:

... ''You cannot have nuclear power without public trust,'' said Jan Beranek, nuclear energy project leader for the Greenpeace environmentalist group. ''And you cannot trust people who don't tell you the truth or who build nuclear plants in earthquake zones.''

(snip)

... Disclosures of radioactive leaks seeped out over several days, exacerbated by operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s delays in notifying the public.

(snip)

... While many Japanese understand the need for energy to power the world's second-largest economy, they are hesitant to trust operators.

''It is impossible to guarantee 100 percent safety,'' conceded Yumi Shimoda, a 40-year-old marketing consultant in Tokyo. ''But what scares me is the fact that they tried to cover up the truth in order to claim safety.''

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Japan-Nuclear-Woes.html

I'm not sure we can say there was a deliberate "cover-up." Cluelessness and disarray might be at the heart of the matter.

But in either case, I think the issue of trust is an important one. To my mind, it looms larger than the issue of radioactive waste and what to do with it -- or even the "building in an earthquake zone" issue. Fact is, every place on the planet is a potential disaster zone for one reason or another.

The trouble, IMO, is that the industry as a whole often seems to be just as sloppily-run as any other heavy industry. Complicated technology + carelessness... it's not not a good combination in any business. And I think that's the biggest hurdle (among many hurdles) nuclear power advocates have to overcome.

[depakid]

1. "the issue of trust is an important one."

Yes, it is- and not just to the general public, but to potential investors.

After what happened in Washington State with Trojan and the WPPS debacle back in the 80's, I don't see anyone who's going to pony up big money to built new generating capacity any time soon.