Nuclear Power Plants and the Future of US

I was born at the dawn of the nuclear age, when we only had the bomb and no power plants. Our elders used to scare the hell out of US kids by making US hide under our desks at school for “Duck and Cover” drills. By the time I was ten, I was scared to death of the communists and ready to go to war at the drop of a hat. We all knew it was coming.

Well, war did not come, at least not that war. There were a lot of little ones, but we never used the nukes again.

Nuclear Power was another issue. It launched a great industry. Oh, we were constantly assured that the demon was safely trapped inside the bottle and could not get out. Every time the “Big guys” and their political lackeys wanted to put another one of the things up, they would parade a line of experts in front of the microphones and cameras of the press and assure US how safe they were; again and again and again!

Then came the disasters, one by one. France, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl; they were awful. Lives were lost and communities ruined, but in the end the long line of experts came out and assured US how much we had learned and how much safer the big power plants would be. Apparently they have such a low esteem for our intelligence, and rightly so, they continually sell US those big monsters and the “Bridges to Nowhere” that connect them to our pocketbooks, knowing that we will just stand there while they turn the monster loose in our back yards.

The United States and the State of California even built one on the California Coast, right next to the San Andreas fault, waiting for the “Big one”. They sighted the tremendous improvements in technology that make Nuclear Power Plants safe from anything nature can throw our way. What an F-ing joke.

 Well, the big one hit Japan, there still could be bigger, and with it the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The explosions, fires, ruptures and radioactive pollution caused by that enormous disaster have not changed a thing. World leaders, most of them anyway, are beginning to parade their long line of experts for US again. Nothing changes. People, WAKE UP!

We do not need the God damned things. Search “Thermal Solar Power in Seville Spain or follow this link: "Thermal Power", These plants are springing up all around the world.

The great thing about thermal solar plants is they do not pollute the neighborhood, the rivers or the atmosphere. If a monster quake strikes near the plant, it will fall down just like the rest of them, but unlike “Humpty Dumpty” or Fukushima Daiichi, we can put them back together again. 

When wind and tidal generators are combined with them and their output is used to maintain temperature in the heat storage tanks, Thermal plants will generate power for a long time without sunlight.

It should also be technologically possible to run salt water or waste water through them and create volumes of pure distilled water as well. Why is this not happening?

The answer to the question is coal and oil. The powerful companies that mine and sell coal and oil do not wish that our government officials help build any renewable energy plants to compete with them. Because these giant companies donate millions to election campaigns, our leaders turn their backs on the needs of the people, and submit to the will of these industrial giants. The "Government of the people" has become the government of "The Giant Corporation".

It is time to change the way our people generate their electrical power. It would be much safer and easier on the environment. But, it will never happen unless the average taxpaying, voting citizen demands it be done. 

Listen to my podcast “The Dreamer” then get involved, write your local representatives, join a local environmental group; Do something about it; please!