Kernenergie

'ATOMIC BALM: NUCLEAR REVIVAL IGNORES CASUALTIES
By Joseph J. Mangano

Nuclear power plants employ a controlled atomic fission reaction,splitting uranium atoms to create heat to boil water to make steam toturn a turbine to generate electricity. Because nuclear power is socomplex, it is accident-prone and unforgiving -- small errors can havelarge consequences. Because of these important disadvantages, for thepast three decades it has looked as if nuclear power were a dyingindustry. But now the nuclear industry has seized on global warming to promoteatomic power plants once again as necessary and safe. From politiciansto corporate executives and conservative pundits, we hear thatreactors are "clean" or "emission free" -- with no evidence offered tosupport the claims. Unfortunately, this baseless promotion emanatesfrom a long-standing culture of deception that has plagued theindustry since its beginnings. Earlier this year the Britishmagazine, the Economist, characterized the U.S. nuclear industry as"a byword for mendacity, secrecy and profligacy with taxpayers'money. Half a century ago, as America produced and exploded hundreds ofatomic bombs (1054 nuclear tests in all, 331 in the atmosphere),public officials assured everyone that low-dose radiation exposureswere harmless. But after the Cold War ended, barriers to the truthgave way. Government-funded research found that nuclear weaponsworkers and those exposed to fallout from atomic bomb tests inNevada suffered from cancer in large numbers. The BEIR VII study.published by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2005, ended thedebate on this question: it is now firmly established that anyamount of radioactive exposure carries some risk of harm. Theonly safe dose is zero. In the U.S., atomic bombs are no longer being tested. However, 104nuclear power reactors still operate here, producing the sameradioactive elements found in bomb test fallout, and people livingdownwind are routinely exposed to low levels of radioactivity.Government regulators have established "permissible limits" forradioactive reactor emissions, declaring the resulting exposures"safe" -- contrary to the findings of the National Academy's BEIR VIIstudy. The U.S. nuclear power industry stopped growing in the mid-1970s.Until this year, no new reactors have been ordered in the U.S. since1978, and several dozen reactors have been closed permanently.[1] Butfears of global warming and an ardently pro-nuclear Administration inWashington have laid the groundwork for an industry revival. The industry's revival plan has four parts: 1) Enlarging the capacity of existing reactors; 2) Keeping old reactors running beyond their design lifetime; 3) Operating old reactors more hours per year; and 4) Building new reactors. To help promote the so-called nuclear renaissance, health risks fromlow-level radiation are once again being ignored or denied -- eventhough evidence of harm exists.'

Lees verder: http://www.precaution.org/lib/07/ht071206.htm#Atomic_Balm_Nuclear_Revival_Ignores Casualties