On Thursday, President Obama ordered
a comprehensive review of U.S. nuclear plants. Let's hope it's more than talk.
Germany is rescinding its plan to extend the operating lives of its aging nuclear power plants.
China is freezing and reviewing plans to build new nuclear plants.
Switzerland has suspended approval of three new nuclear plants.
New England is considering reconsidering what to do now that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has relicensed a plant in Vermont that is similar in age and design to the one now in crisis in Japan. Another similar plant, in
Iowa, was relicensed just in December. Earlier this past week,
President Obama clearly still supported expansion of nuclear power, while the White House said they will learn from the crisis in Japan. Presumably, that learning will include not repeating
this:
Speaking at a town hall meeting in October 2009, Obama specifically cited Japan as a model for America's nuclear renaissance. "There's no reason why, technologically, we can't employ nuclear energy in a safe and effective way," Obama said. "Japan does it and France does it, and it doesn't have greenhouse gas emissions, so it would be stupid for us not to do that in a much more effective way."
Well, he still has France.
Sort of. But Stupid? The real stupidity would be in trusting anything the nuclear industry says or does. With Japan still in crisis, the nuclear industry has been quick to assert that it can't happen here, and that the Japanese plants were old and poorly designed. And never mind that the industry has been extending the lives of and relicensing similar plants here. The industry always tells us their designs are safe. They told us that about the plants now in at least partial meltdown. They tell us that about the similar plants that are being relicensed. They tell us that about new plant designs. Of course, the design of the Japanese reactors had been criticized as potentially dangerous as long ago as
1972. But back then they assured everyone that it was all okay. Now the same industry that assured us that these reactors were all okay wants us to believe that the new reactor designs are all okay. We can trust them, this time.
With Japan still in crisis, the nuclear industry has been quick to assert that it can't happen here, and that the Japanese plants were old and poorly designed. And never mind that the industry has been extending the lives of and relicensing similar plants here. The industry always tells us their designs are safe. They told us that about the plants now in at least partial meltdown. They tell us that about the similar plants that are being relicensed. They tell us that about new plant designs. Of course, the design of the Japanese reactors had been criticized as potentially dangerous as long ago as
1972. But back then they assured everyone that it was all okay. Now the same industry that assured us that these reactors were all okay wants us to believe that the new reactor designs are all okay. We can trust them, this time. This is an industry with a long record of
cover-ups of dangerously damaged facilities, and
cover-ups of safety violations, and
unreported radioactive leaks, and
inadequate waste storage protections, and
napping guards, and more
radioactive leaks, and more
radioactive leaks, and
on and
on. WikiLeaks even comes into play, with the revelation that in December 2008 an official of the International Atomic Energy Agency specifically warned that
seismic safeguards at nuclear plants were outdated and inadequate. Which was dutifully ignored by the
typically dutiful media, the industry, and governments. Which may be the real but unintended meaning of the president's words about nuclear power, that we can "do that in a much more effective way."
