I have been blogging on radiation, radioactive materials, nuclear power and nuclear issues for about a year and a half now. During that time I have learned an enormous amount about nuclear issues. Being completely honest, I will say that I have never been a fan of nuclear power. When I was a kid during the cold war, we had nuclear attack drills and people were building bomb shelters. I resented the fact that it was possible that international tensions could escalate to the point where a nuclear war could end human civilization. At least now we are working hard on nuclear disarmament and the major nuclear arsenals have been significantly reduced but there is a worrying trend in nuclear nations towards "modernizing" their nuclear forces that may slow down disarmament. And then there are countries like Iran and North Korea who are working on acquiring or multiplying nuclear warheads while spouting violent rhetoric.
Nuclear power has had a bad year with several U.S. reactors being closed because they can no longer compete with cheap natural gas. (Don't get me started on fracking!) Most of the reactors in the U.S. are nearing the end of their operational life-spans and one reactor was shut down because it became too expensive to repair. Other U.S. reactors are at risk from floods or lakes, rivers and the ocean becoming too hot to use for cooling. There is talk of reaching peak uranium production this year which means there will be price spikes and shortages coming. There is still no permanent nuclear waste repository in the U.S. and all the spent fuel pools at the U.S. reactors will be full of old fuel rods in a few years. All in all, the prospects of the U.S. nuclear industry are not very bright.
The nuclear industry is not taking all this lying down. There is a major push to promote nuclear power as the answer to carbon dioxide generation and climate change. For a lot of reasons, this is not really a good idea. New small modular reactors are being developed but do not exist yet. There is a major push among nations with mature nuclear industries to sell reactors to developing nations. This is a very bad idea because of problems with oversight, corruption, political pressure, water, waste and other issues.
In Japan Fukushima continues to be a huge problem that has largely faded from the headlines but is still leaking radiation into the Pacific Ocean which will impact the west coast of the United States. They are in the process of removing fuel rods from the damaged spent fuel pool of the Unit 4 reactor. If they screw up, it could cause fires, explosions and a huge release of radioactive materials into the atmosphere and could threaten the whole northern hemisphere.
As I said at the beginning of this post, I have never been a fan of nuclear power. All that I have learned has convinced me that I was right from the start and that nuclear power generation poses a much bigger threat to the world than any benefit it could possibly supply. In my own small way, I am trying to educate people about the problems with nuclear power and hopefully contribute to the end of this dangerous and fantastically complicated way of boiling water.
In conclusion, I would like to thank my readers and encourage them to tell others about my blog. I would also like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and I hope that 2014 will be a good year for everyone.
