Those Damn Nuclear Reactors (Hopefully with the CORRECT spacing!)

Well ... let's stop and think about this for a second. What happened in Japan was horrible. I don't think there's any doubt about that.

But could it happen here in Ohio?

Possible. But not likely.

Think of it this way: We're not that near a fault in Ohio, so while we could have an earthquake, it almost certainly won't be a 9.0 as what happened in Japan. We actually did have an earthquake back when I was in high school. It was in 1984 or 1985, if I remember correctly. I was laying in bed listening to music and the bed moved. I thought my father had moved the bed, but he wasn't in the room. Granted, nothing fell over and the movement was very slight, but it happened. So an earthquake in Ohio?

It's already happened - but nowhere near a 9.0.

Second, the tsunami - which literally means "harbour wave." Is it possible to have a tsunami in Ohio? Possible, yes. Just not likely.

For one to happen an asteroid would have to crash into the ocean, something like what happened 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs got wiped out. What's the point? Well, many people are now getting worried about nuclear reactors. Granted, the worst hasn't happened yet in Japan, but it could very well get much much worse.

" The Japanese government's nuclear safety agency has decided to raise the crisis level of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident from 5 to 7, the worst on the international scale. " (*1)

Still, the point is that here in Ohio, we're not likely to have a 9.0 earthquake or a monster tsunami, so our nuclear plants don't need to be built to withstand them.

But many people are now getting worried about nuclear reactors. And then there's the problem of nuclear waste. But let's also consider this article: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42539862

" The global overreaction from this rare 9.0 magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami that followed may set back the safest and easiest way for this country to solve its energy crisis, investors said. “The Fukushima meltdown may mark a high point in anti-nuclear hysteria,”

" Anti-nuclear hysteria. You can say that again.

If you really really want to have something to worry about, let's consider something Dr. Michio Kaku said on Coast to Coast AM:

" Well, I think we should first of all admit that the Atoms for Peace Program (*2) let the cat out of the bag. I'm a physicist. There's no law of physics really separating commercial from weapons technology - it's the same technology. You just increase the enrichment level from 3 per cent to 90 per cent - that's it, that's the difference.

" The Indians (as in India, the country) discovered this, that's why they detonated their first bomb in the 1970's, using an experimental CANDU (*4) reactor. They took this Atoms for Peace Program, which was never designed to make bombs, but the physics is the same. The Indians were not stupid, they surreptitiously (*5) refined the nuclear waste and they detonated their first bomb in the 1970's.

" And now we have this technology proliferating all over the place. Take a look at North Korea. North Korea has uranium technology, which shocked us, we didn't think they had uranium technology, and where did they get it?

" The New York Times says they got it from Pakistan. Well, where did Pakistan get this uranium technology from? Essentially from Germany and the United States. We allowed that technology to flood into Pakistan during the Afghan War, when Ronald Reagan was opposing the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. And he wanted a billion dollars a day to go to the Afghan rebels, well, that's ok, but what happened was the Pakistanis wanted something in exchange.

" When you really get your hands around it, the United States winked at Pakistan, Pakistan winks at North Korea, and then we're shocked when North Korea comes up with uranium enrichment technology.

" A lot of countries are not stupid. They know there is almost no difference between weapons technology and commercial technology except the enrichment level, which of course affects the chemistry a bit. But it's basically the enrichment level (*3) that you want, and the Iranians, believe it or not, are absolutely correct in stating that all they want is commercially available technology from Russia.

" And President Clinton was the first American President to admit that commercial technology, which is legally available, can be used to make atomic bombs.

" And the Iranians were saying "Now, wait a minute. We obeyed the letter of the law. You set the rules. You made the rules. The West made the rules, we followed the rules, " and yeah, the Iranians apparently want to build an atomic bomb and they're using commercial technology to do it. "

(*1) - http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/12_05.html http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?categoryID=1

(*2) - Atoms for Peace - http://www.iaea.org/About/history_speech.html
(*3) - http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/intro.html

A 'typical' nuclear reactor uses 3% enriched uranium.
A 'breeder' reactor uses 20% enriched uranium.
An atomic weapon uses 90% enriched uranium.

(*4) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDU_reactor
(*5) - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/surreptitiously