nuclear-news

Fukushima is bad enough, but the nuclear waste problem is worse

Weighing up the cost of nuclear power  The Guardian, Mike Gatehouse 29 March 2011 Nuclear power is unsafe because the consequences of any accident are so dire. Despite George Monbiot’s perverse conclusion (Why Fukushima made me stop worrying about nuclear power and love it, 22 March), the disaster at Fukushima has so far caused the evacuation of over 100,000 people, the suspension of fisheries and agriculture over a large area and a ban on the consumption of drinking water by babies in a city of 12 million.

The reactors are not yet under control, four out of six of them are so badly damaged that they can never be used again and the whole site will probably have to be abandoned and cordoned off for decades, at astronomic expense. Nuclear power is also more accident-prone, because fission reactors are so hard to control and the complexity of the containment structures and control systems makes them highly susceptible to design, construction and operator error. The worst aspect, however, is that nuclear power generates waste and decommissioning products, which cannot be safely disposed of, are a major security threat and must be guarded, monitored and cooled for decades.

Every time we commission a nuclear power plant we are taking out a massive mortgage that future generations will have to pay for. Yet we cannot know that they will have the will, the capacity, the skills and the resources to do so…..Letters: Weighing up the cost of nuclear power | From the Guardian | The Guardian

March 29, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general