When Disaster Strikes

            March 11, 2011, is a day that will forever scar the citizens of Japan and the world. A magnitude 8.9 earthquake, the strongest to ever hit Japan to date, triggered a tsunami leaving more than 1,200 dead, and thousands more displaced or missing. One of the most developed countries on Earth has been left in shambles as a result of this deadly quake and tsunami as thousands of miles of farmland, homes, highways, trains, boats, and even an entire nuclear plant were left destroyed. It is at a moment like this that we are forced, as citizens of our planet Earth, to look at our world around us, realize how precious our lives are, question the choices we make in regards to our environment, and most of all recognize that no matter how great our efforts to keep ourselves safe, catastrophic events such as this earthquake and resulting tsunami can strike at any moment and can leave long lasting and irreversible damage. For this reason, America along with the rest of the world must realize, that nuclear energy is not a viable alternative, and that the risks inherent in nuclear energy are too great, too long lasting, and irreversible. The events of the last few days demonstrate the need for our country and the world to abandon nuclear energy as a viable alternative and refocus our efforts to finding other alternative, renewable, clean energy sources.

            Years ago Japan made a decision to rely on nuclear power as its major source of alternative energy.  It now supplies more than 30% of Japan’s energy needs. Immediately after the quake and tsunami hit, over 50,000 people were evacuated from Utsunomiya, Japan as an explosion at a nuclear plant “hurled plumes of smoke over the Pacific Ocean.” Although Japanese authorities tried to assure the public that there was no danger of a meltdown at the plant, residents could not help but fear that this tsunami would cause a repeat much like the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine. Initially experts believed that only a small amount of radiation had been expelled, a much smaller amount than the radioactive clouds that Chernobyl spewed out when it exploded in 1986.  Valeriy Hlyhalo, deputy director of the Chernobyl nuclear safety center, stated that "the explosion at No. 1 generating set of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, which took place today, will not be a repetition of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.” However it has been reported by Japan’s NHK television that at least three residents among 90 tested at random showed excess exposure to radiation. In addition, more recent reports indicate that the cooling system which cools the core of the reactor is failing and the reactor will overheat which could result in a complete meltdown of the plant. Such an event would release radioactive material into the groundwater and the atmosphere surrounding the plant. The results would be catastrophic. Exposure to nuclear radiation at a minimum can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, loss of white blood cells, and hair, and prolonged exposure has been linked to leukemia and other types of cancer and can lead to death.

            With the recent increase in oil prices, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the ever increasing demand for energy the United States is rethinking nuclear energy as a source to meet those demands. Nuclear power plants work much like natural gas or coal plants: An energy source heats water to make steam; steam turns a turbine; and the turbine generates electricity. But a nuclear reactor differs from fossil fuel-based plants in that it does not produce any carbon-dioxide emissions. However, it’s based on radioactive materials and it produces radioactive waste. This is where the main problem lies. Until recent events our administration and leading scientists have overlooked the fact that despite the safest built nuclear plant, if a natural disaster strikes at a high enough magnitude there is no way of controlling the amount of deadly radioactivity that is released into the air and potentially groundwater.  As we saw with the explosion of the nuclear plant in Chernobyl, nuclear energy disasters can leave long lasting and irreversible effects, and as the recent events in Japan have demonstrated no matter how carefully constructed the plant is, mother nature is unpredictable and can unleash forces that can destroy a nuclear power plant. For this reason, the Obama Administration and Congress must hear the warning siren being sounded by the Japanese nuclear reactor in Utsunomiya, Japan, and recognize that nuclear energy is not a viable alternative, and that the risks inherent in nuclear energy are too great, too long lasting, and irreversible.

The events of the last few days prove the need for our country and the world to refocus our efforts to finding alternative renewable clean energy sources other than nuclear energy. We must come up with energy that does not pose the harmful and deadly effects that nuclear energy poses and instead expand research and funding for solar, wind, geothermal heating, biomass fermentation of wastes, and water based alternative energy sources.  While no one of these sources can produce all of the energy that is needed, when combined they provide viable clean, renewable, and sustainable energy with less risk of injury to persons or our environment.