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Interesting article in June
24th NYT.
The nuclear plants are safe. No one has been
killed (nor even injured) by radiation.
It's the radiation scare that is causing the
"crisis" and the enormous human suffering.
Of course, there is a large financial loss; but
that was a rather large earthquake and tsunami.
The cleanup costs will be much higher than need be,
again because of the enormous radiation scare.
The non-nuclear costs and loss of life caused by
the earthquake and tsunami should be a much more important consideration,
but ...
Over several decades, Japan’s nuclear
establishment has devoted vast resources to persuade the Japanese public of the
safety and necessity of nuclear power. Plant operators built lavish,
fantasy-filled public relations buildings that became tourist attractions.
Bureaucrats spun elaborate advertising campaigns through a multitude of
organizations established solely to advertise the safety of nuclear plants.
Politicians pushed through the adoption of government-mandated school textbooks
with friendly views of nuclear power.
The result was the widespread adoption of the belief — called the “safety myth” — that Japan’s nuclear power plants were absolutely safe. Japan single-mindedly pursued nuclear power even as Western nations distanced themselves from it. |