70
years ago, before the first reactor was ever built, we chose a reactor
design optimized to produce radioactive waste, because among the
isotopes was the plutonium for Nagasaki and the 60,000 warheads which
followed . . . and we won the Cold War. Now civic society wants
electric power. It is time for this industry to turn the page.
The entire nuclear reactor fleet must go. It is the wrong
technology -- start over. If it has water in it, don't build it.
REVIEW
AMAZING ESSAY ON NUCLEAR POWER
Jerry Nelson holds a doctorate in psychology, so he's not an "expert"
on any of these, but he clearly is smart and has studied them deeply,
and he writes with flare. He acknowledges at the beginning that
the essay is hard going and recommends keeping an aspirin nearby.
My antidote was to stretch out the reading over many days; there is
just so much of this I can stomach at once. His whimsical style
helps - greatly.
His concluding
sentiments are why you might consider reading this provocative, very
informative essay. "We are - you, me, all of us - members of the
most technologically advanced civilization in history. We must
either understand the technology or lose the civilization."
--Pat Kenschaft, 29July2011
Montclair State University Dept. Mathematics (retired)
