Reply #6: Nuclear Power is the height of human arrogance

[Tom Rinaldo]

Humans have been over estimating the safety of nuclear technology ever since we were painting radium on watch dials. Later we were x-raying childrens feet to see if shoes fit well. We keep "solving the problem" only to later admit that we did not "solve the problem" but "this time you can trust us we really solved the problem." Except when we get it really wrong with nukes the damage is, from a human evolutionary perspective, permanent and irreversible. Nuclear power represents the heavily centralized concentration of power; economic and political power, not just energy. And that always becomes a magnet for corruption and that is why there are no adaquate "safeguards" to protect against the nightmare of full power plant failures. The economic forces backing Nukes are why we don't have widespread safe solar power today, and backing nukes now means the same for tommorrow.

The problems with nuclear power will not be solved as long as humans are subject to human error and as long as money can buy corruption. There is no system that is fail safe when people who are capable of doing stupid things remain in the loop. People have off days. in fact they have really really off days when their minds are simply someplace else for all kinds of human reasons. And there is no automated system that is fail safe when people are involved in writing the programs. We lost some pretty complex and expensive space craft that smashed into Mars because of some really stupid programming errors that weren't caught during quality control. And that doesn't even begin to factor in what can happen if a key technician mentally snaps the way it more typically happens with guns today and individuals seeking to kill as many people as possible on their way out of this existance.

Then of course there is greed. Sub contractors have sold below quality steel bars and bolts to nuclear plants during construction - they just paid off some people and falsified the records. Human nature hasn't changed in the last 30 to 40 years. The NRC gets bought off at a whole other level - through the political appointee pay off process when friends of the nuclear industry are in power. Suddenly certain major problems aren't critical enough to fix to require shutting down plants on an emergency basis - they can wait until the next scheduled maintance to be taken care of instead. Suddenly common sense requrements for the abiltiy to evacuate the public in case of an emergency no longer are common sense. Suddenly it is assumed that all those low paid school bus drivers will stick around to shuttle people away from a disaster zone rather than go home to evacuate their own families.

The problem with nuclear power is that the after effects of an "unthinkable accident" occurring frankly are near unthinkable. Radioactive clouds released from one cite can circle the globe, areas that include thousands of square miles can instantly be converted into permanent kill zones. Unthinkable accidents are only unthinkable until they happen. After they happen panels are convened to discuss how that ever was possible in the first place and what can be done to make sure "that it never happens again", until the next unthinkable accident happens again.

And before we get the matter of nuclear waste there is the matter of nuclear proliferation in an age of terrorism. I don't know if you have ever studied the NRC requirements for the level of security that nuclear plants and related nuclear fuel storgage areas are suppoesed to maintain. They are a joke. They assume that an attack on a nuclear plant would not be much more sophisticated than a major bank robbery, and that the weapons used during such an attack would be garden variety. They are a joke because of greed. The industry does not want to have to pay for the level of security actually needed. The government doesn't want to pick up the tab for the nuclear industry to provide adaquate security either because they are trying to down play risks and underplay the true costs on nuclear power.