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Letter: Why do we think we’re immune to disaster?: Rutland Herald Online

Why do we think we’re immune to disaster?
RUTLAND HERALD Glenda Bissex November 2, 2008 Do we so easily forget the nuclear plant disaster at Chernobyl and the Three Mile Island accident, that we are ready to re-license Vermont Yankee in the face of its continuing accidents and problems? Why do we think we’re immune from disaster? The only real control we have over Vermont Yankee is shutting it down in 2012.We have no control over where the spent fuel is stored. Do you remember when the mountains of north-central Vermont were considered as a nuclear storage site? We didn’t want the stuff in our back yard, so how can we imagine other people — especially poor, rural, indigenous people — want it in theirs?Some nuclear byproducts go to the military to be used in weapons. Small amounts are being used in small weapons in Iraq. Do we really want to participate in making the world radioactive?We have no control over where the uranium is mined. The Bush administration and the nuclear industry are now working to open a million acres of land next to the Grand Canyon to uranium mining. Do we really want to participate in this assault on the indigenous people in Arizona?Let’s focus on cleaner, local, renewable energy sources. Nuclear power endangers our health and our souls.

Letter: Why do we think we’re immune to disaster?: Rutland Herald Online

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium

November 3, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety