Is it clear yet? Is it finally, obviously, painfully obvious yet?

[MadHound]

Nuclear power is simply too dangerous to continue to use.

We have had four major incidents, all of which have resulted in the release of radioactive material. All of which have resulted in deaths, both immediate and in the long term. One has laid waste to thousands of square miles of land, rendering uninhabitable for humans for generations or more. The latest is continuing to shape up as being of the same magnitude, if not greater.

We have had countless(literally countless, since many weren't reported) smaller incidents and accidents that have also resulted in damage, injury and death due to radiation exposure.

It has become abundantly clear that we can't eliminate human error in the nuclear industry, a field that absolutely requires no human error. Nor have we solved, nor can we solve, the problem of what to do with the waste.

Finally, within the past few years, it has become clear that nuclear power is the most expensive form of electrical generation going.

Yet our administration continues to bow to the wishes of the nuclear industry and pushes for more nuclear plants in this country.

What will it take to finally shut down nuclear power in this country, a gaping, hot, spewing radioactive hole in our countryside? Hundreds dead, thousands dying, and tens of thousands of ruined acres in the heartland of America?

We have been given ample warning, time and again. We have the technological means to replace nuclear power cheaply and quickly.

So have we finally reached the point where we will make the right choice, the painfully obvious choice to shut nuclear power down for good?

Or will we continue to allow greed, self interest, and outdated ideological insanity to continue to expose all of us to danger, destruction and death?

[Stuart G]

1. Greed is at the bottom of many bad decisions..nt

[rock]

14. And politics is at the bottom for the rest

[RegieRocker]

2. K & R

[HereSince1628]

3. No, it isn't. It's still profitable. The power co's get to externalize the cost

of their disasters, and keep on going. Nothing will stop them but the actual loss of all their money.

[Le Taz Hot]

4. They're trying to put one in my back yard in California

Support builds for Fresno County nuclear plant

Undeterred by the nuclear crisis in Japan, backers of a proposed Fresno County nuclear plant are pushing ahead -- with the most recent blessing from the Madera County Board of Supervisors.

Hutson, CEO of the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group, said a nuclear power plant built today would be far safer than the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, where workers are trying to prevent three nuclear reactors from melting down.

On Tuesday, the Madera County Board of Supervisors agreed, voting unanimously to draft a letter of support for the project. In January, Fresno County Supervisor Phil Larson sent a similar letter of support. Larson said Tuesday his position has not changed.

<more>

http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/03/15/2311653/madera-co-oks-nuclear-support.html

[MadHound]

7. Yeah, they're trying to put another one in my back yard as well,

But the tragedy at Fukushima has definitely thrown a wrench in the works, and might, hopefully, derail the process altogether. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Sorry to hear about the complete idiots in your neck of the woods.

[TBF]

5. As long as we have the capitalism we will have the greed -

and profit will come before safety. It's sad and extremely frustrating.

[Marblehead]

6. They cannot be

stopped unless enough people speak out.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Somewhere in the past couple days I saw an article about the aftermath

of Japan in terms of reining in the nuclear industry. The entire comment section was filled with people talking about how safe the new nuclear plants are, how old the Japanese plants were, and how even they were built to withstand the thousand-year quake and they just got colossally unlucky, and how we were all being Chicken Littles and the new designs have ZERO chance of mishaps, etc. It was pretty obvious the nuclear industry has a lot of amplified shills out there.

[MadHound]

9. It's the same script that comes after every nuclear disaster,

Bad luck, old reactor, better designs, won't happen again, etc. etc.

But every generation, a nuclear power plant comes up with a new, unexpected way of causing a disaster.

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Yup. And those "thousand-year disasters"

seem to be happening every year or 2.

[Zoeisright]

12. Yep. It's impossible to contain that poisonous shit.

Absolutely impossible. No matter what the nuke porn crowd thinks. And I don't notice any of them volunteering to store that shit in their backyards.

[girl gone mad]

20. Yes, and..

always the inescapable stench of blind arrogance.

When you've sat through lectures from the best particle physicists on the planet and witnessed them get confused and make beginner's mistakes, you realize that even the most brilliant people are fallible. We must always weigh the risks against the rewards and not pretend those risks are imaginary.

[Zoeisright]

11. Fuckin' A.

Exactly right.

[enough]

13. Unforrtunately, it is going to become clearer and clearer in the weeks to come. (nt)

[spanone]

15. humans cannot be trusted to handle nuclear....we cheat, we cut corners.

you do that with nuclear and many many people die

[Javaman]

16. It's obvious to those who pay attention.

cheers!

[glinda]

17. Not just nuclear but fracking and mining as well.

[Recursion]

18. Still better than oil (nt)

[MadHound]

21. Again, more bipolar, either/or thinking,

The thing is, we don't need oil, we don't need nukes, green renewables can provide our energy needs.

The thing is, following a green, renewable path means a decentralized energy production model, which won't provide obscene profits for the few at the expense of the rest of us. The wealthy elite simply won't allow that to happen.

[Terry in Austin]

22. Lucky thing there's not going to be enough of either

Fuel of the future: turnoffium.

:evilgrin:

[Egnever]

19. Nope not clear at all

[Urban Prairie]

23. "a gaping, hot, spewing radioactive hole in our countryside"

Nope...the nuke nabobs would spin the disaster into a positive, and claim that the gaping hole, after cooling it off a bit, would be a good place and made to order, to dump all of the other nuclear waste into.

Sort of become like a gigantic spent nuclear fuel storage dump.



:-)

[OneBlueSky]

24. I live across the river from Indian Point . . . should I be worried? . . . n/t

[MadHound]

25. Indian point is notorious for tritium leaks,

Worse yet, it is an aging set of reactors, which were not built with earthquakes in mind, sitting on top of a previously unknown fault line.

If I were in your position, I would be more than a little concerned.