Nuclear Power Talk
At Concord Presbyterian Church Concord, Tennessee By Donald Riley April 10, 2012
“Mythology distracts us everywhere. For the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. You must not be afraid to follow the truth no matter where it is found.” – Thomas Jefferson
How are Permissible Radiation Limits Set? US Regulatory examined the question of permissible radiation limits, concluding that most people that get a small dose of radiation are not harmed by it, but in fact are benefited. The report’s final conclusion was just the opposite. In the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents, fear of radiation was much more harmful than the effects of radiation itself. Announcing that no amount of radiation is small enough to be harmless created and nurtured phobic fear of radiation, when none was justified by the facts. Prof. Allison concludes that setting the present permissible radiation limit, with a good margin of safety results in a level about 1000 times the current figure.
What should we learn from Fukushima? 1. Radiation doses were below background levels elsewhere in the world. 2. With 25,000 non-nuclear deaths and zero nuclear, the Fukushima event cannot be considered a nuclear catastrophe. 3. To date no radiation exposure health effects have been reported from the Fukushima incident. 4. All the damage has been from depression, despair and even suicide among 100,000 people who have been evacuated from their homes within a 12 mile radius.
Radioactivity and Its Real Impact A Taiwan steel company accidentally mixed some highly radioactive cobalt into a batch of steel rebar used in the construction of 1700 apartments. People living in these buildings were subject to radiation up to 10 times that received from the natural background. 15 years later, past and present apartment dwellers were surveyed. Normal incidents would have predicted 160 cancers among the 10,000 residents. To their astonishment they discovered only five cases of cancer-97% lower than the anticipated amount. Birth defects were also 94% below the anticipated rate. Exposure to high levels of background radiation had apparently bestowed upon residents "an effective immunity from cancer.“ The Taiwan incident illustrates the enormous gap between radiation science and the popular perception of the dangers of nuclear power. One year after Japan's Fukushima accident, much of the world is running away from nuclear energy on the grounds that its risks are too great for a modern society to bear.
Nuclear Industry Record With fourteen thousand five hundred reactor-years of nuclear power production we have not seen a fatality apart from the limited number of deaths that occurred as a result of Chernobyl. Very few industries have produced such a low toll of damage to the environment or the public. That basic fact is much too little appreciated by the public.
Who said we have an energy shortage? The following fast reactor characteristics are meaningful as our future energy supplier: Let's see: Proven; Safe; Environmentally Friendly; Antiproliferable; and 700 years of fuel already mined and milled. Do you want meaningful amounts of affordable energy in the future? The only rational course at this point in time is following through with the fast reactor.
Power Source Impacts * Acres of land disturbed or occupied per 1000 MW plant Solar & Wind – >20,000 A (plus transmission line costs + backup power) Coal – 200 A Breeder Reactors – <1 A * Transportation to supply 1000 MW power plant. Coal – 1 train per day Breeder - < 1 train per year * Atmospheric Pollution from 1000 MW plant Solar, Wind, LWR, Breeder – 0 Coal – 352,000 tons per day * Power Costs Solar – 3 to 4 times wind Wind – 7 to 8 times nuclear power Coal ~ LWR ~ breeder
US Fatality Facts Car fatalities in the US - ~40,000 per year * Fossil Fuel US Power Plant Pollution fatalities - ~24,000 per year *** Coal mines in US - ~ 33 fatalities per year ** US Nuclear power plants – 0 fatalities per year **** * NHTSA Facility Analysis Reporting System ** Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) *** J Shuster’s book “Beyond Fossil Fools”, page 45 **** J Shuster’s book “Beyond Fossil Fools”, page 237
“Mythology distracts us everywhere. For the great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie: contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. You must not be afraid to follow the truth no matter where it is found.” – Thomas Jefferson
The following is a short video from the people of Japan for the assistance they received after the earthquake/tsunami. You can access it on the internet if you so desire. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=SS-sWdAQsYg&vq=medium