The writer and civil engineer Samuel Florman is in favor of technology, as am I. But he is a realist. I cannot find the quote, but in one of his books he says "there is a reason we put nuclear power plants far from cities." He was criticizing advocates of nuclear power who insist that the reactors are "perfectly safe." I have always thought that kind of advocacy is going too far. It comes across as either naive or cynically deceptive. Now that we have had three major nuclear disasters, that kind of talk will weaken future prospects for building new fission plants. When you deny there is any risk at all, you put yourself into an untenable position if it turns out there are dangers after all.
I hope we are not so foolish with cold fusion. It seems to me there are risks associated with it. I was reminded of this by something in the WaPost: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/peace-of-mind-livelihood-gone-for-japanese-dairy-farmers-near-evacuation-zone/2011/04/01/AFxieedC_story.html It describes a dairy farmer (a woman), QUOTE: . . . Shortly after the birth of Masahiko, their first child, a sinister but still remote cloud settled over a majestic landscape bounded by the Pacific Ocean on one side and cedar-covered mountains on the other: Tokyo Electric opened a nuclear power station just six miles down the coast from the southern end of Minami Soma. Tokyo Electric and government officials "kept saying, 'It’s safe. It’s safe,' but from the start I was concerned," recalled Mineko Okubo. The plant was built to generate electricity for the Japanese capital, and she "wondered why, if it was so safe, they didn’t build it in the suburbs of Tokyo." . . . The latest Fukushima-related news in the WaPost is that in the first days of the crisis, TEPCO proposed building two additional reactors at the Fukushima #1 site. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/amid-nuclear-crisis-japans-tepco-planned-new-reactors/2011/04/05/AFtBbfkC_story.html QUOTE: ". . . Tepco, informed Fukushima prefecture on March 26 of its desire to start building the reactors as early as next spring, local officials said. That was just two weeks after an explosion at the utility’s tsunami-crippled complex set off a cascade of catastrophes. . . ." Prefecture officials said no. Actually, they said, "it was just unbelievable." Talking about new reactors when "so many people are scared and in difficulty ... is completely out of the question." TEPCO is described as an "aloof, heedless . . . corporate behemoth accustomed to getting its way." I would describe it as peopled by politically inept, sheltered geeks. The managers seem to have no clue how to behave in public. They act surprised and contrite when people get upset about things like this. Apparently it never crossed their minds that this might not be a good time to propose building new reactors at Fukushima. - Jed
