The Nuclear Fear Factor

2001-9-7 00:23:00

I just have a few minutes to make a couple comments and will add more later.

Benjamin quotes my quote of Djwahl Khul as follows: " ...The atomic bomb ... was and is purely beneficent."

Sorry, but I just don't see how this could be true.

JJ:
Those three dots represent missing words totally distort the quote. He did not say the atomic bomb was and is purely beneficial. Instead he said "the intent" behind the Hierarchy in inspiring the development of atomic energy was meant to create beneficial results in the process of time.

Benjamin asks:
Why are we afraid to consider - and implement - alternatives?

JJ:
I do not see any fear within anyone I know or have met concerning alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, etc. But there is tremendous fear (most of it created by illusion) concerning nuclear power. Because of this fear activists have made every possible move to dismantle current plants and prevent the production of new safer ones.

What if we had deluded activists creating the same roadblocks with wind power, for instance? What if every time a new windmill blade was shipped we had protesters blocking the road or railroad tracks because these blades kill endangered species?

What if every time someone wanted to put up a windmill that one had to go through mountains of red tape, much of it unnecessary? What if after the windmill served it purpose that people were so frightened by it that burying it 2000 feet in rock where it would not be disturbed for billions of years was not enough to allay those fears?

Let me assure you that if these great fears were associated with wind power then the cost of such power would be so great that we could not even consider it as a source.

The miracle is that even with all the paranoia associated with nuclear power, it still provides an economical source of power for many of the nations of the earth.

France leads the list by receiving 75% of its power from nuclear reactors. Lithuania, 73.1%; Belgium, 57,7%; Bulgaria, 47.1%; Slovak Republic, 47%; Sweden, 46.8%; Ukraine, 43.8%; Republic of Korea, 42.8%; Hungary, 38.3% and Armenia, 36.4%. In total, 17 countries and Taiwan, China relied upon nuclear power plants to supply at least a quarter of their total electricity needs. All this has transpired (with the exception of Chernobyl) without the direct loss of one human life.

My point is that we need to take a logical non-fearful approach to all forms of energy and let the all sources have equal freedom in vying for dominance. Whatever proves to be relatively safe and economical will then be embraced by the public.