It would be totally amiss for the international community to allow the 9 tons (1,000 nukes’ worth) of weapons grade plutonium to remain in the control of this deceitful and malicious rogue nation. There is NO REASON for Japan to hold on to the nukes-enabling core material, now that it has already shut down 52 of its 54 inherently dangerous reactors. The plutonium must immediately be turned over to UN control and possession. IF indeed Japan builds new, proven safe reactors that will not blow up (to the satisfaction of the world community, AND if such new reactors actually use weapons grade plutonium (very highly unlikely, since ALL reactors built after 2000 chose NOT to use the highly toxic and dangerous plutonium), then the material can be proportionally rationed back for reactor use, but nothing else.

As LOSER SURRENDERER in WW II, Japan must not be allowed to have nukes. Since the weapons grade plutonium is clearly NOT used for power generation, the ONLY use is for making nukes. If Tokyo refuses to turn over the 1,000 nukes’ worth of plutonium, it demonstrates that it is the biggest nuke rogue nation in human history, and the full wrath and force of the international community must be brought upon it.

“Thirty one deaths are directly attributed to the accident, all among the reactor staff and emergency workers.[13] An UNSCEAR report places the total confirmed deaths from radiation at 64 as of 2008. The Chernobyl Forum estimates that the eventual death toll could reach 4,000 among those exposed to the highest levels of radiation (200,000 emergency workers, 116,000 evacuees and 270,000 residents of the most contaminated areas); this figure includes some 50 emergency workers who died of acute radiation syndrome, nine children who died of thyroid cancer and an estimated total of 3940 deaths from radiation-induced cancer and leukemia.[14]

The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that, among the hundreds of millions of people living in broader geographical areas, there will be 50,000 excess cancer cases resulting in 25,000 excess cancer deaths.[15] For this broader group, the 2006 TORCH report predicts 30,000 to 60,000 excess cancer deaths,[16] and a Greenpeace report puts the figure at 200,000 or more.[17] The Russian publication Chernobyl, which has received criticism for its methodology and sourcing, concludes that among the billions of people worldwide who were exposed to radioactive contamination from the disaster, nearly a million premature cancer deaths occurred between 1986 and 2004.[18]”

So we have a range of claims from 31 to “nearly a million”.

Personally I have no interest in trying to figure out who is closest to correct. I’ve got other issues that are more important to me.

Bottom line is, nuclear energy is not safe. We have to build multiple levels of defense/protection in order to keep it from killing a lot of us.

Some argue that we’ve killed few per GWh, but that’s not the point. We have other energy sources which do not require the safety efforts required in order to use nuclear.

Nothing else leaves hazardous waste for which we have no mitigation solutions. Nothing else provides the unique dangers of “dirty bombs”.

Nuclear is not safe. Were nuclear safe we would need no containment domes, emergency cooling systems, backup generators, squads of armed guards, waste containment vessels, …..

That so few have died from nuclear to date says only that we’ve been lucky. We’re playing Russian roulette and so far we’ve only shot ourselves a little.

There’s no reason to continue this foolishness. We have safe, clean and less expensive ways to make electricity.

It’s time for us white males to reexamine our love for the reactor. For some bizarre reason some of us have almost a love relationship with nuclear energy. It’s time to cut the old hag loose.

Danged right, Skippy!

Remember when that big wind farm blew up in Eastern Europe?

An estimated 350 000 clean-up workers or “liquidators” from the army, power plant staff, local police and fire services were initially involved in containing and cleaning up the “wind” debris during 1986-1987. About 240 000 liquidators received the highest “wind” doses while conducting major mitigation activities within the 30 km zone around the reactor. Later, the number of registered liquidators rose to 600 000, although only a small fraction of these were exposed to high levels of “wind”.

In the spring and summer of 1986, 116 000 people were evacuated from the area surrounding the Chernobyl reactor to non-contaminated areas. Another 230 000 people were relocated in subsequent years.

Germany is still having problems because wild bores feed on wind-active mushrooms and then wander into German forests bringing wind-poisoning with them.

And then when the tsunami took out the solar array Fukushima.

“Sunburn” from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi solar panel disaster may eventually cause approximately 130 deaths and 180 cases of cancer, mostly in Japan, Stanford researchers have calculated.

Of course we dodged our bullet when the Three Mile Island solar array melted down. Luckily for us the massive concrete containment dome that is necessary to contain the harmful effects of solar farms kept most of the harmful “sunlight” bottled up.

I guess I should have said that so far we’ve dodged our bullets. TMI melted, but other solar farms got close.

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Nuclear – too safe to worry about. No need for containment domes. Or emergency cooling systems. Or emergency generators. Or squads of armed guards. None of those safety measures that wind and solar require.

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And nuclear is so reliable. Just ask the folks running Chernobyl, TMI, Fukushima, Bessie-Davis, Chrystal River, Humboldt Bay, Rancho Seco, North Anna, San Onofre, Brown’s Ferry, …..

Nuclear fission hot piles are being left for future generations. Maybe self-regulating Thorium fission might work, but who is doing that? Permanently clean up the fission plant waste and maybe I could support it again. Private insurance companies will not insure it, so why should the public? Too many points of failure without chance of recovery. What can happen, will happen. Direct meteorite hit on a hot pile will release more radioactivity than all the carbon sources burned to date and shorten all our lives with horrible ends.

The move to the Sun’s nuclear fusion via solar, wind, tides direct to electricity is clearly the winner, unless fusion itself is accomplished on earth.

It would have been an interesting scramble to get another generator into place before things started smoking….