There 19 nuclear power plants in the British Isles, all government owned, built and operated. A hundred years ago, the privately owned British coal mines, employed a million workers. Coal was burned and exported, and it was said that “Coal made Britain.” Coal heated homes, fired locomotives and power plants. In late years, coal burning has been remarkably ’cleaned up’, and one never sees a wisp of smoke from a coal powered electric plant, anywhere in the world. The British coal industry was nationalized in 1947 under the Labor government, and since then, has virtually disappeared. When government operates anything, the profit disappears. If you want to see a really wonderful movie, and like music, rent “Brassed Off,” which portrays the decline and shutdown of one U.K. colliery. I use the U.K. as an example, because if you look at a map of U.K. nuclear installations, they are mostly at seashores, as are (were?) Japan’s. Is a comparison fair?
In America, coal is still privately owned and makes nice profits. Coal is exported overseas to nations who have nationalized their coal industries, watched government management ruin them, and cause them to be abandoned. Coal, hydro, and natural gas, still produce by far most of America’s power. America hasn’t built an atomic power plant in many years, and its taste for them was tarnished by the 1979 Three Mile Island disaster, which came far too close to a melt-down. The current Japanese tragedy will make it certain that no more will built in the U.S. I hope.
In 1986, the Chernobyl horror left thousands dead and millions of square miles polluted. Now we have the Fukushima explosions and possible melt downs in Japan, thanks to a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, which destroyed the water pumping machinery, causing the plants to overheat. Will Japan’s economy survive? Will radioactivity pollute the entire Japanese mainland? Now, everyone within 20-30 miles is urged to vacate or seal themselves in their homes. How does one get food and water in a sealed up home? What happens to you if you open the door or have to leave, eat, or breathe? Does any government ever think anything through? Those plants are close to 40 years old, and had at best, another few years of life left in them. A few years left? Now we get to the point of this ramble.
Coal power, if there is an earthquake, tornado, water interruption, or anything the mind can conjure, will not do anything but stop making electricity. A coal power plant emits no smoke, and huge bags collect fly ash. The greenies long ago stopped accusing coal plants of causing “acid rain,” which acidity is caused by the trees themselves, and not by man’s coal powered electrical generating stations. America has hundreds of years worth of coal left to burn and export, and there are huge amounts of natural gas. Were it not for bureaucracy, America would not have to import a single barrel of oil, but that’s another story.
If an enormously expensive nuclear power plant has but 40 years of life, and during its life, it threatens the welfare and health of its neighbors, and there is no place to dump its waste, why did we build it in the first place? Far too near New York City and a tens of millions of residents, sits an aged atomic plant at Indian Point. If an earthquake or some human or mechanical error caused it to go haywire and melt down, as in Three Mile Island, there might be ten million deaths and poisonings. Indian Point sits atop a recently discovered earthquake fault, and has 1500 tons of nuclear waste stored on its grounds. That’s the type of waste that’s burning and polluting in Japan now. America has 104 Nuclear plants, producing 20% of our power, and all of them are old and near the end of their useful life. Why not plan on replacing them with natural gas or coal fired plants? Coal power, over the last few decades, has become very, very efficient, with turbines and high pressure. Figuring the initial cost of a nuclear plant vs. a coal plant, coal has it all over nuclear, and that’s why Texas has four new coal plants on the drawing boards. Nuclear power is supposed to be so clean, but no one has yet figured a way to dispose of its waste, and hundreds of billions have been wasted in Nevada in a failed effort. Given all costs and risks, nuclear is a disaster waiting to happen, and there are no savings or benefits to the earth.
While stock markets around the world are falling out of bed, and the Nikkei has crumpled into virtual extinction, it’s interesting that gold has fallen but 3% and will rebound quickly. Gold is not dependent on power generation, business profits, government waste, or earthquakes for its value. Gold and silver are self backed, and have tremendous value in themselves, not counting incredible beauty.
I have been trying to think of some wonderful thing atomic energy and weapons have given us, other than an end to WW II. I can’t think of any! I know, government submarines and aircraft carriers are nuclear powered, but I doubt that they are any more efficient or cost competitive than coal, if their building and all costs were figured, rather than just how long they will run without re-fueling. (It’s another column, but if we were neutral, we wouldn’t need them anyway). Depleted Uranium ammo leaves pollution everywhere it is used, and is a literal criminal act to provide and use it, I don’t care how strong it is. If a cruise ship line decided to power one of their ships with nuclear energy, and assuming they could convince the bureaucrats to allow it, I’ll bet no one would buy a ticket. Of what value is nuclear? I haven’t the faintest idea.
Not to be overly dramatic, or some say actually nuts, but a full moon, nearer the earth than in a long time, spring equinox, and a few other astrological happenings occur this weekend, and many earthquake and disaster predictors speculate that will be a prime time for huge earthquakes around the world, and maybe even in the U.S. Four more just happened at the Big Island, in Hawaii. What’s next?