Is America ready for "The China Syndrome"?

It has been a rough week for Japan.  Not only was it hit with a massive earthquake that registered 9.0 on the Richter Scale and the consequent tsunami with waves over 30 feet high that destroyed any and everything in its path, Japan is now faced with an even greater challenge (if that is possible): a simultaneous melt down of its nuclear power generating reactors.  On Wednesday, the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant had to be evacuated because the radiation levels had become dangerously high for the crew of fifty who were working to avoid a complete melt down in the plant.  Japan is no stranger to massive radiation fallout.  The United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with devastating results that led to Japan’s unconditional surrender and signaling the end of World War II.  Japan has the infamous distinction of being the only country in history to have a nuclear weapon used against it.  Unfortunately, the Japanese know how to deal with radiation.

Remember the motion picture “The China Syndrome”?  The movie was based on the melt down of a nuclear power plant where the government tried to cover it up.  It was the classic government vs. the people conspiracy theory and the movie was a relative box office success.  It also turned out the movie was art imitating life because just 12 days after the release of the movie in March of 1979, the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania DID melt down.  Hazardous radioactive plumes were spewed all over southeast Pennsylvania.  To this day it remains the biggest accident in American nuclear energy history.  One would think that in the time since the Three Mile Island accident, the United States would have developed a comprehensive program to avoid such accidents.  Think again.

In a story in CNN Money.com, it is revealed that over half of the 104 nuclear reactors are over 30 years old and most of the remaining ones are 20 years old.  Although the expected life span of these nuclear reactors is 40 years, most of the country’s reactors have applied for a 20-year extension. Sixty-two extensions have been granted so far and 20 are still pending, according to the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute.  This is a dangerous and puzzling development.  Of course, the private utility companies that run these plants have their lobbyists marinated in Washington lobbying any and every member of Congress they can get to.  Why, you may ask?  Because 20% of the electricity generated in the U.S. is produced in these nuclear power plants and the energy companies make RECORD profits.  (What a surprise!)  Critics of the extension requests want the older plants closed.  In the same CNN Money story, Ira Helfand, a board member at Physicians for Social Responsibility said, "If a plant was operating for a certain period of time, what assurances do we have that it's mechanically sound?  Given what's happened in Japan, do we really want nuclear plants operating here?"  Good question.

  

Christian Parenti of The Nation and author of Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence said on “The Ed Show” on MSNBC that most of the existing 104 nuclear plants are leaking radioactive material NOW.  (See: Christian Parenti on “The Ed Show”)  Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, also appearing on “The Ed Show” said he had written a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) asking their representatives to appear before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to testify about the safety of the existing reactors.  (Dennis Kucinich on “The Ed Show”)  Former Secretary of Energy and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson told Lawrence O’Donnell on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” that states are not ready to deal with the myriad of medical issues that would be related to a massive nuclear fall out in the United States.  (Bill Richardson on “The Last Word”)  By the way, in the GOP’s latest budget proposal, there would be significant cuts in funding to nuclear regulatory agencies.  Of course.

The mother of  nuclear power plant melt downs occured at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in The Ukraine on April 26, 1986 .  It was the worst nuclear accident in history and the ONLY nuclear accident to be classified as a level 7 event on the International Nuclear Event Scale.  The ramifications of that accident were long lasting and in some cases, still has an effect on life in The Ukraine. 

 

Nuclear energy is both efficient AND dangerous.  America is not ready for a massive nuclear melt down.  We have a compilation of aging and deteriorating nuclear power plants that not only need to be shut down, but, need to be replaced.  Energy company lobbyists and members of Congress are unwilling to advocate true nuclear energy reform.  What do we do?

We can hold our elected officials accountable.  After all, we control the ultimate lobbying power.

The ballot box.

Peace, peace in the Middle East!

Craig Riggins

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