As a teenager, I used to enjoy reading horror stories and watching horror films. I read everything by James Herbert, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Shaun Hutson, Graham Masterton and a number of other authors of the genre. Films like The Exorcist, The Day of the Living Dead and the Nightmare On Elm Street movies were must see stuff. Even now, as a responsible and ageing adult, I’ll still get some entertainment value from a good horror novel.
As a youngster (a label long since out grown), I rarely had nightmares about what I read or viewed - that was until I watched a film by Barry Hines called “Threads”. This film was about a nuclear strike on Sheffield. The film was so horribly realistic that from that point on I became very nervous about nuclear weapons and indeed nuclear power too. Horror films are often, if unintentionally, comedic “Threads” on the other hand was too realistic. If you haven’t seen the film, I recommend watching it – but not with your kids.
Why write about this subject now? Well I have been paying close attention to developments in Fukushima, Japan and today on the BBC there is more grim news about the radiation problems at the site – i.e. they continue to get worse. The average Japanese citizen must be permanently worried about the consequences. I’d hate to be living with my family in that part of the world right now and I genuinely feel for parents with children out there that have no choice.
The BBC also published a story a couple of days ago about the Government in the UK looking into storing nuclear waste deep in the Cumbrian hills. Then there was news about North Korea and the fears about rocket testing taking place and nuclear capabilities advancing in that country.
Nuclear power is commercially valuable and widely advocated and the reality is that it is great until it goes wrong. When it goes wrong though it is catastrophic! And it’s also a fact that it does go wrong – examples include Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and most recently Fukushima.
Nuclear power incidents have occurred because of unanticipated events or human failure. In most circumstances they were preventable and shouldn’t have happened but that’s not much comfort after the event. The Chernobyl disaster was a catalogue of stupid human/corporate decision making and poor communication and very similar in some regards to the Union Carbide catastrophe in Bhopal (although that was a poison gas release as opposed to radiation). Neither event would have occurred under normal operational conditions for the plants.
Fukushima was different in that the meltdown was effectively triggered by an earthquake and a subsequent tsunami (not a system or human failure – although they came later). These events weren’t accounted for/understood in terms of the structure of the plant and its resilience. And therein lies the key – you cannot make nuclear power truly safe if the foe of the piece is the planet. The planet can unleash forces way beyond our resistance.
The fact is that Japan will recover quickly from the majority of the effects of the quake and tsunami but the problem with radiation is that it has a half-life and could remain a problem for much of the next century. In the wake of Fukushima, Japan has shut down all its nuclear power plants and there is much debate about whether or not they will ever re-open. But even if they stay shut, another problem with nuclear power is that decommissioning the power plants is fraught with risk and danger too.
If you think for a moment about burying nuclear waste in the Cumbrian hills, can anyone state beyond doubt that there is no possibility of seismic shift or other natural phenomenon? I hope that governments around the world learn from Fukushima – nuclear power is just not safe enough and on that basis future power generation plans really should look elsewhere for inspiration.
And I for one don’t mind a windmill in my back yard.
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As a youngster (a label long since out grown), I rarely had nightmares about what I read or viewed - that was until I watched a film by Barry Hines called “Threads”. This film was about a nuclear strike on Sheffield. The film was so horribly realistic that from that point on I became very nervous about nuclear weapons and indeed nuclear power too. Horror films are often, if unintentionally, comedic “Threads” on the other hand was too realistic. If you haven’t seen the film, I recommend watching it – but not with your kids.
Why write about this subject now? Well I have been paying close attention to developments in Fukushima, Japan and today on the BBC there is more grim news about the radiation problems at the site – i.e. they continue to get worse. The average Japanese citizen must be permanently worried about the consequences. I’d hate to be living with my family in that part of the world right now and I genuinely feel for parents with children out there that have no choice.
The BBC also published a story a couple of days ago about the Government in the UK looking into storing nuclear waste deep in the Cumbrian hills. Then there was news about North Korea and the fears about rocket testing taking place and nuclear capabilities advancing in that country.
Nuclear power is commercially valuable and widely advocated and the reality is that it is great until it goes wrong. When it goes wrong though it is catastrophic! And it’s also a fact that it does go wrong – examples include Windscale, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and most recently Fukushima.
Nuclear power incidents have occurred because of unanticipated events or human failure. In most circumstances they were preventable and shouldn’t have happened but that’s not much comfort after the event. The Chernobyl disaster was a catalogue of stupid human/corporate decision making and poor communication and very similar in some regards to the Union Carbide catastrophe in Bhopal (although that was a poison gas release as opposed to radiation). Neither event would have occurred under normal operational conditions for the plants.
Fukushima was different in that the meltdown was effectively triggered by an earthquake and a subsequent tsunami (not a system or human failure – although they came later). These events weren’t accounted for/understood in terms of the structure of the plant and its resilience. And therein lies the key – you cannot make nuclear power truly safe if the foe of the piece is the planet. The planet can unleash forces way beyond our resistance.
The fact is that Japan will recover quickly from the majority of the effects of the quake and tsunami but the problem with radiation is that it has a half-life and could remain a problem for much of the next century. In the wake of Fukushima, Japan has shut down all its nuclear power plants and there is much debate about whether or not they will ever re-open. But even if they stay shut, another problem with nuclear power is that decommissioning the power plants is fraught with risk and danger too.
If you think for a moment about burying nuclear waste in the Cumbrian hills, can anyone state beyond doubt that there is no possibility of seismic shift or other natural phenomenon? I hope that governments around the world learn from Fukushima – nuclear power is just not safe enough and on that basis future power generation plans really should look elsewhere for inspiration.
And I for one don’t mind a windmill in my back yard.
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