The Nightmare of Nuclear Energy

In March of 2011 an earthquake in Japan sent in play a tsunami, not an uncommon occurance in the Pacific Ocean, that began the worst nuclear disaster in the history of the planet. Unlike Chernobyl which was a land and air based release of massive amounts of radiation, Fukushima also released and is still releasing massive amounts of radiation into the Pacific ocean. In Chernobyl's case the world received a significant increase in radiation amount to 21 additional days of normal radiation, but Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Norway Bulgaria, Switzerland, Greece, Slovenia, Italy, Moldova and many other surrounding countries were contaminated by weather systems and radioactive rain. This radiation among other things caused increased mutations in animals and human beings and has contaminated much of the foods in these countries. In the case of Fukushima not only did the release into the air set off monitoring stations around the world but it sent a radioactive plume into the Pacific ocean that is spreading at an alarming rate.

Complete Meltdown of the Core

As a result of the tsunami three nuclear cores went into meltdown, in fact a 100% meltdown! This means a molten core or corium is missing under the containment devices that failed. It is unknown  whether or not it is continuing to bury into the ground. If is is travelling underground what are the implications for the ground water and the release of these waters into the Pacific. Currently the Japanese government is claiming they have the situation under control, which runs contrary to the opinion of experts and even the previous Prime Minister who says the current governments statements are "a lie." In otherwords, the contamination continues to be out of control.

How Permanent is the land Contamination

The big problem with nuclear plant disasters is that the damage or contamination is effectively permanent. The area evacuated around the Chernobyl plant will continue to be uninhabitable for hundreds and hundreds of years. Currently the rivers in the Fukashima area have radiation levels over 200 times higher than it should be. The river bank samples measure at 29,800 Bq/kg for radioceasium, when safe drinking water threasholds are set at 200 Bq/kg. Even in the estuaries that lie 90 km north of the reactor the levels are measured at 6,500 Bq/kg and this is only 5 years after the accident. Furthermore setting up a containment area does not prevent water, weather, plant and animal migration of the containation outside of the area. In fact nuclear reactor accidents are like being contaminated by the dropping of a nuclear bomb.

Nuclear Energy should be Banned

Given the enourmous dangers inherit in the use of nuclear energy, the inadequate methods of storing spent fuel and the availability of clean alternatives, many countries are moving to ban the use of this form of energy. Austia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Philippines, Sweden and Switzerland are all moving to phase out nuclear energy. In the Netherlands, Europe, Australia, Asia, Japan, Brazil, Argentina and the US either discussions of a ban are under way or they have strong anti nuclear movements putting pressure on the government.

To quote The Guardian's article. "The inherent risk in the use of nuclear energy, as well as the related proliferation of nuclear technologies, can and does have a disastrous consequences. The only certain way to eleimate this potentially devastaing risk is to phase out nuclear power altogether." The article goes on to talk about the gross under estimates the industry puts forward for construction, operation, decomission and storage of contaminated materials, which suggests that this energy may be one of the most expensive in the world.