Nuclear satire fallout

Nuclear satire fallout

Last month, The Times-News was kind enough to print a letter I submitted suggesting that we dig deeper for more viable nuclear waste solutions. (Link) http://magicvalley.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letter-to-the-editor-an-idea-for-storing-nuclear-waste/article_fb339e1a-eb04-11e0-b8cc-001cc4c002e0.html

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Soon after, the same letter was brought up in a local discussion board, where a blogger named ‘Nukeworker’ tried to ridicule me, saying “I recently saw a "science show" that had 3 people going from a volcano in Iceland to the center of the earth where there are dinosaurs and they came out another volcano... Journey to the Center of the Earth... This nice tale has more scientific facts than anything in your letter.”

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‘Nukeworker’s’ terse response motivated me to explain: “My piece was meant to be read mostly as satire, although it also contained some radioactive elements of truth. Here in Idaho though, satire is often misunderstood, probably because there is not much need for it in such a beautiful paradise. However, if we don't soon come up with more feasible solutions to our severe nuclear waste disposal issues, there are strong chances that our whole region will revert back to a "hellish environment."
*On a related note, I find it interesting that our Congress now has a bill before them, which will make it a crime to poke fun at or satirize the TSA in any way. What will evolve next? Dehumanizing, joke-proof conditions for all nukes?”

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After diagramming the satire, it was refreshing to hear again from ‘Nukeworker’ who said he missed it at first, but now appreciates the humor. Now I imagine him gazing with new light, deeper into the idea of Mel’s bottomless pit; which after all is a faultless fit, for nuclear waste radiating comfortably in the center of the earth, as well as putrid plutonium propheteers, blowing their mad tops about volcanoes, while caught in tight blogging snits.

Let’s bury nuclear waste deeper

Recently, I came across an ancient earth-science textbook, which, while reading, reminded me how the depths of our earth buzz with high levels of radioactivity. The same week, I happened upon an account of Mel Waters and his fantastic 25-mile deep hole, in close proximity to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation –the most radioactive place in our Country. This got me to thinking how, that a viable solution to our horrific nuclear waste problems would be to thrust the insidious waste back into the hellish environment, from whence it came.

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Why waste trillions of dollars ferrying nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain or the INL, where we’ll need to secure it under expensive guard for millennia, when a much simpler solution is near at hand? Therefore, I propose that our Department of Energy in conjunction with our Department of Environment Quality, conduct extensive feasibility studies to determine how drilling deep-hole repositories near every nuclear plant should be best done.

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Besides supra-natural pits such as Mel Waters’, those who are quick to embrace the nuclear renaissance should consider extracting deeper, old fracking pits, as well as dried up oil wells, such as Deepwater Horizon, where we’re practically halfway there with the shaft.

Sometimes 100 year events occur in our lifetime

It’s remarkable how some Idahoans who are connected with the nuclear industry are downplaying the horrific events in Japan. While some of these officials say they are confident that a similar event could never happen here, I sense a credibility gap and I’m unsure whether they are seriously taking into account all contingencies.

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For instance, what about the fact that the INL operates amid an earthquake zone; one strongly active in recent times? On the 20^th anniversary of the 1983, 6.9 Borah earthquake, STEPHEN WEISER, Assistant deputy director of mitigation for the Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services said "Central Idaho is extremely vulnerable to earthquakes and has a great deal of seismic activity.”

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Besides occasional earthquakes, other challenges that the purportedly fail-safe and “clean” nuclear industry needs to contend with are the possibilities of terrorist attacks, infrastructure wear and tear, discontented employees, and plain old human error. Then there’s the proud legacy of nuclear waste. Our Country stores more spent fuel rods than Japan does, and this insidiously deadly radiation will endure an epoch tenfold longer than the most ancient Egyptian pyramid.

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100 year events sometimes do occur within our lifetimes: 9-11, Pearl Harbor, Hurricane Katrina, The Indonesian and Japan Tsunamis, Mt. Saint Helens exploding, the Teton Dam bursting or even spring flooding in Woodside. It’s downright disingenuous for putrid plutonium propheteers to claim that a nuclear accident could never occur here; especially when one already has. We will be stuck on the road to ruin if our leaders continue to be too shortsighted to plan no further than the next election, muffle whistleblowers so we don’t learn from our mistakes, and neglect to upgrade nuclear plants to high modern standards; trading short-term gain for long term environment disaster. 

Beware of Putrid Plutonium Propheteers

The powerful politically connected nuclear industry has been consistently campaigning to construct new plants in Idaho and many are prepared to buy it. Some have written letters beseeching Idahoans to embrace nuclear power, so that we can be first in something for once.

To paraphrase environmental-watchman Lee Halper from a recent radioactive-hot forum:

“Idaho is already first in many things. We're almost first in cow crap. We're first in lack of ethics in the Legislature. We're first in ignoring what doesn't work in other states will work here and we're first in having the most NUCLEAR waste seeping into our drinking water. We could be first in geothermal, wind, solar, hydrogen and conservation of energy but people who look for the silver bullet like NUCLEAR, are those who want us to be first in line for Superfund status.”

I agree with Lee; let’s not be first in foolhardiness. The poisonous nuclear industry kills much more than charging windmills do birds. For the next 40,000 years, we will have to develop warning signs decipherable long after the English language has died out. Think about it; the proud legacy nuclear waste leaves, will endure an epoch tenfold longer than the most ancient Egyptian pyramid.

Now an experienced French company “committed to fueling the nuclear renaissance,” is on the verge of gaining generous tax breaks for mining Idaho uranium. While it’s true France uses 80 percent nuclear power, there is a big brouhaha going on over there about the wasteful thinking. And where do the elite French position their insidiously deadly toxins to rest for millennia? Why it’s being shoveled into poor (Muslim) peoples backyards, which leave long-term radioactive stains, that will stink ten million times worse than simple cow-crap.

Times-News: Magicvalley.com, Twin Falls, ID