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“Peaceful’ nuclear power inextricably linked with nuclear weapons

nuclear power is tightly linked with nuclear weapons, and contrary to current groupthink, its technology is neither “clean” nor “safe.” Thus, proposals to eliminate nuclear weapons while expanding nuclear power plants are a contradictory and doomed strategy for renewable, clean energy production and international security………

August 6 and 9: Perils and Possibilities, t r u t h o u t,  06 August 2010 by: H. Patricia Hynes and Jeff Napolitano, August is a month of memorial and actions for a nuclear free-world. August 6th and August 9th mark the 65th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which many believe was an unnecessary act for Japan’s surrender and one which killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians. It also launched the perilous era of nuclear weapons and power plants.

What can we learn from this tragic history? Two lessons come to mind. First, nuclear weapons – even in limited numbers – are too dangerous in the hands of any country, including our own. They poison the prospect of human security, both as offensive weapons and as a deterrent strategy. Only abolishing them makes sense for a secure and humane future. The U.S. Conference of Mayors took this position unanimously on June 14, 2010 and called on Congress to radically reduce new spending proposed by the Obama administration for nuclear weapons modernization and to “redirect funds to meet the urgent needs of cities.”

Second, nuclear power is tightly linked with nuclear weapons, and contrary to current groupthink, its technology is neither “clean” nor “safe.” Thus, proposals to eliminate nuclear weapons while expanding nuclear power plants are a contradictory and doomed strategy for renewable, clean energy production and international security………

In this era of unconventional war, power plants are vulnerable to sabotage and attack. Existing evacuation plans in case of accident are widely known to be unrealistic paper exercises. After 50 years, we still don’t have a permanent disposal plan for nuclear wastes; nor do we have a method to neutralize them. Uranium mining has disproportionately contaminated Native American miners and lands and will continue to do so, given the uranium deposits there. Finally, nuclear power reactors generate the fissile materials enriched to fuel nuclear bombs and inevitably create the risk of nuclear weapons development.

t r u t h o u t | August 6 and 9: Perils and Possibilities

August 7, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, spinbuster | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear technology, nuclear weapons