Nukes and Going Green

Gadabout remembers the “disaster” of Three Mile Island (nuke plant in Middletown, PA) in the late 1970’s. Even though failures occurred in the proper operation of the plant’s cooling system, it did not result in a core meltdown and the generation plant retained its integrity. The incident caused quite a scare in the public and nuclear power became under fire from public policy organizations. No new nuclear power plants have been constructed in America since that incident. “Nuclear power is bad, dangerous and harmful to the ecology.” This rhythmic mantra successfully continued throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, but anti-nuke power organizations have found themselves in a tight bind in the new millennium. The bind is labeled “global warming.”

Global warming trends have, as most of you are aware, created strong core action groups that advocate reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These harmful emissions are generated in mass by coal burning power generation systems, internal combustion engines (in our cars), and are exasperated by fewer natural offsets resulting from deforestation. What is the answer? Well, nuclear power, of course! Nukes don’t generate those nasty greenhouse gas emissions! Darn it, all those successful demonstrations against a nuclear future may have had the unintended consequence of destroying the planet. Ah, shucks, all the protest signs need to be changed, again.

Gadabout’s point with this shift in political posturing is that when taking action based upon emotional beliefs does not always produce the best long term solution. In less than 30 years, the anti-nuke caucuses have found themselves jammed into a corner, forced to support an energy source it once firmly opposed. All those 20 and 30 something protesters from the 70’s are now 50 and 60 years old and are carrying signs demanding reductions in greenhouse emissions—read that pro-nuke. Sort of embarrassing since they may have very well created the global warming trends by demanding an end to nuclear power generation. Getting your way does not always make you right!

Making emotional decisions should be a warning to what actions should be taken with global warming. Going off half cocked may result in further damage to the environment and waste resources. Gadabout is not arguing that the planet may be warming since published descriptive data supports an upward trend, but has learned that haste often results in waste. Let’s learn from our past mistakes, make good decisions and work together in a constructive manner before declaring the sky is falling.