As I write this there is a developing story regarding a likely meltdown at a reactor located at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan.
The government is saying that the reactor is releasing radioactive steam after it lost its ability to cool the reactor core. This is the same power plant where a massive explosion occurred on Saturday, causing a radiation scare at another reactor. Initially the reports were that radioactive levels had actually decreased following the explosion at the first reactor. Now the radiation appears to be leaking out of the second reactor.
Fukushima is located 150 miles north of Tokyo, potentially putting millions of people in danger if the radiation leakage levels worsen. That is why the government is taking the unprecedented step of pumping seawater into the first reactor and venting the second reactor.
Japan gets around 30% of their electricity from nuclear power plants and the country, along with France, is often cited by American politicians and nuclear energy proponents as examples of how nuclear energy can be the solution to our energy needs. However, this crisis in Japan should be a stark warning that we must proceed with the utmost caution in pursuing nuclear energy here in the United States.
While nuclear power should certainly be explored as one option to meet our energy needs, there are serious setbacks to this source of energy that might make it more worthwhile to invest in safer renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric power. While any power source has its drawbacks, none of these has the potential for catastrophe that nuclear does. The nuclear scare right now in Japan is evidence of that.
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