Like the failed assassination attempt of Gabby Gifford was to Sarah Palin’s political career, so too the Japan Nuclear Disaster is to the final nail in the nuclear lobby’s coffin…or at least it should be.
There’s a good reason the people of Iowa City post signs as you drive into the city letting you know it’s a nuclear weapon free zone. They were wise enough to keep that devil out of their garden. Unfortunately its younger brother “Civilian Nuclear Energy” resides just up the road in Linn County at the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, Iowa. No matter how many times the nuclear lobby tells you they have all the bases covered, do not believe them. Not for a moment.
List of Civilian Nuclear Accidents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_nuclear_accidents
Spokespeople at the Cooper Nuclear Power Station in Brownsville, Nebraska try and reassure people with these lame statistics: “The last seismic event felt at Cooper was in December of 2009 with a 3.5 magnitude on the Richter scale. The strongest earthquake ever recorded in Nebraska was 5.1 and Cooper is designed for a 6.0 quake” (Dan Swanson) Nebraska City News Press.
So Mother Earth has only 9 tenths of a point to go before it spells nuclear disaster for Nebraska? Just because a 6.0 magnitude hasn’t hit yet doesn’t mean it won’t. We are seeing old records getting broken with new disasters more and more. This latest one in Japan is a new record for the island. Something serious is going on in the earth, and I don’t think we should be rolling dice at this stage of the game…not with something as hot and dirty as nuclear meltdown.
ON a positive note, Iowa’s Renewable Energy slice currently sits at more than 15% of its energy total at 3675 Megawatts thru wind power. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_Iowa
However, despite the proven success of wind power, and the latest Japanese disaster, lobbies STILL want to expand in the wrong direction with the creation of Iowa’s second nuclear plant. The one I mentioned earlier- The Duane Arnold Energy Center – located on the banks of the Cedar River, eight miles NW from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, produces 615 Megawatts, or 1/6 that of wind. The original primary containment shell was undersized and had to be retrofitted in the late 80’s to remedy a mistake in the design. It utilizes cooling water from the Cedar River and claims it has a zero release policy for contaminants back into the river, but that’s on good days…when Mother Nature is behaving herself.
This article is going to be short…because I think the decision NOT to go with any more nuclear power stations in Iowa can be summed up in 2 simple questions to ask your self:
1. Question: What’s the worst that can happen if an earthquake or other natural disaster hits a wind turbine farm?
Answer: They fall over in a barren field and some folks go without power for awhile. Maybe an unlucky farmer is killed or injured if his tractor happens to be under one. This would be tragic…but not cataclysmic.
2. Question: What’s the worst that can happen if an earthquake or other natural disaster damages a reactor or cooling system in a nuclear power station?
Answer: Turn on any television or radio set and keep watching.
Or turn to the past:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
It’s a no-brainer. Iowa is smarter than that. Tell Terry Branstad, your local state representatives, and the nuclear lobby down in Des Moines…NO WAY.
No KABOOM wanted in Iowa…ever.
Keep supporting renewable, clean, safe, energy
http://www.state.ia.us/government/governor/energy/
Peter Spektrum
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