Three Mile Island nuclear power facility had yet another ‘accident’ this weekend!  There was a loss of containment of radiation in one of the reactors and a ‘slight’ radiation leak.  Luckily for the workers at the plant and those who live in the surrounding areas the containment facilities at the plant managed to keep the leak contained…..this time.

The question that weighs on my mind is what about next time?  Many of us today remember the problems this very same facility had last time there was a problem.  That was way, way back in 1979.  I was eleven years old then and though I lived  miles and states away from the reactor breach it was scary for me as a kid.  Then just a couple of years later there was the meltdown at Chernobyl in Russia and nuclear power got to be REALLY scary.

The ‘accident’ at Chernobyl made the accident at Three Mile Island look like a walk in the park.  A city of 13,000 people were forced out of their homes at a moments notice.  Hard radiation still blankets the area today and that city is still a ghost town.  The area is now and will need to be for the foreseeable future abandoned and sealed to public by the Russian military.  Then you have the cancer, birth defects, blindness and other diseases that this so called minor accident caused and that cheap power starts to have a pretty high price.

I know that we at Lunacanus have been posting a lot about the issue of so called ‘clean’ nuclear energy as of late.   I personally feel that now, when our nation and our world is looking to fill its ever increasing demands for power in the future this may well be the next major issue facing our race.  Sadly the majority of us still do not care how we get the power to run our home, just that we get it and its cheap.

Make no mistake however, there is a battle being fought on this front and in the long term it will rate right up there with health care reform and the regulation of our banking system.  The playing field will also look very familiar with big money corporations looking out for themselves, politicians lying on behalf of their bribers and scared confused citizens that think the government is getting to involved in business.

The “clean” nuclear power pundits are still using the same old hype they did in the 1970′s talking of how this power source will not pollute the air like coal burning plants.  Of course the “clean coal” industry is just as powerful and just as pushy about getting coal plants built as the nuclear guys are but in my humble opinion they are all so full of it that they cannot control the shit that comes out of their mouths.

The problems with burning coal are obvious to anyone that has eyes, lungs or has ever B.B.Q.’d.  The smoke and ash are abundant, the CO2 levels high and the soot is everywhere.  How any sane person can call this energy source clean and efficient is beyond me.  While the ‘clean’ nuclear guys are at least in the 20th century the coal advocates are way, way back in the 18th century.  Soon they will be telling us how the iron horse is more efficient and cleaner than the modern Mag-Lev bullet train!

The problems with using nuclear energy are just as apparent.  One need only look at Bikini Atoll, Chernobyl, Nagasaki or Hiroshima to see the problems.  The waste we produce from these plants will be a far larger problem for future generations than any budget overruns or higher taxes our nation can ever conceive.  After just forty years of nuclear power there are other major issues facing our world from this clean power source.  Massive amounts of superheated water being spewed from reactors into rivers and oceans already showing temperature changes from global warming, plutonium dust blanketing the land around some plants and the occasional ‘accident’ that forces entire cities to be abandoned.

Then you have the fact that the worlds largest manufacturer of nuclear reactors recently stated that they are not designed to withstand sever weather!  These reactors that could contaminate for generations the land for miles around cannot withstand earthquakes, hurricanes or even tornadoes!  To me that just seems to big of a risk to take.

Staying in latter centuries the pundits for these clean power sources will tell you how solar, geothermal, wind and water power are unreliable and expensive.  Now why would they say that when other countries and portions of our own are running on these power sources?  Why would they say that when an accident at a solar farm creates a power outage at worse and not a nuclear wasteland?  Why?  Money, that’s why!  These are entrenched and established corporations in our country and in our capitol that are using every trick they can to defend their income.  They are using the money they have made to protect their interest and squash any and all competition.

There was a Senator that at one time I really looked up to.  He had the nerve years ago to stand in the well of the Senate and call for solar power for our nation.  I am not sure of his numbers but watching him speak was inspirational.  He stated that if a one square mile grid of his state was devoted to solar power that it could provide the energy needs for our entire nation.  A bold statement to say the least but one that made me think there was hope.

Was he looking for a huge government funded program for his state?  I’m sure he was.  Was he looking to give more political clout to his state?  You can be sure of it.  At the time though it was a bold and very green forward looking view.  That state was Arizona and the Senator was John McCain. Sadly his views have changed and he is now a corporate shill.

We now have a President in Obama that is looking forward and not backward.  We now have a leader with no ties to big oil, big power or big industry.  Weather or not we move ahead is up to us, not President Obama.  The way our nation is designed makes it so the President can only lead the way, not take us there.  Where we will go on this and other issues is up to you, me, our neighbors and the people you meet everyday.

I know there are a lot of things for us to think about right now and at times it seems overwhelming but we are in the process of restoring our nation on many levels.  We are showing once again we are a nation of one people by taking care of our citizens through health care reform.  We are showing we are a just and fair nation by trying our enemies in court and no longer torturing them.  We are restoring our national economy by regulating corporations and keeping them from gaining control of or lives.  We are looking ahead at how our nation functions through  infrastructure and power needs.  All of this is not easy.

One thing to remember through it all is that it’s all important.  Every bit of it is just one more piece of the fabric that will shape our nation in the years to come.  The generations alive today have pretty much coasted for years on the work that was done by those before us and now sadly we have coasted too far and the very fabric of our nation is unraveling.

It is up to us now to not only restore our country but decide how it will look for the next generations of Americans.  We must oppose those who fear change.  We must embrace the future.

Using obviously flawed and dangerous power sources from bygone eras will gain us nothing and retard our growth.

There is a saying we have come to live with and it true now more than ever.  That saying is: “the future is now”.  Well folks, it is .  At the rate technology advances today we cannot afford to live in the past and the past is where nuclear power belongs.

We can do better than this!