“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw
Feb 26, 2025
Nuclear power plant image copied from the article below. No description or photo credits available. ~llaw
LAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY with the RISKS and CONSEQUENCES of TOMORROW
I have posted the following story as a potentially controversial threat to misunderstandings of the dangers of nuclear weapons of mass destruction, nuclear power plants, and nuclear waste, as well as uranium (or thorium) nuclear fuels.
Though what the author, Marco Visscher, has to say is a potentially credible optimist’s look at the future of nuclear power, the detailed facts of possible disaster (at least in the article) are essentially ignored.
For instance Chernobyl is still a huge mass ‘ghost area’ where no one lives within many miles of the failed Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The plant’s remains are still in the ‘clean-up’ stage of dismantling and have been since the plant exploded from a power surge, caused by human engineering error in the plant’s design, releasing radiation on April 26, 1986, leaving about 1,000 square miles that still remain uninhabitable today.
Also, even though no one died directly from the Fukushima disaster, more than 2,000 people have died as a result of the tsunami-caused destruction. And it is also estimated that more than a quarter of a million Japanese citizens died from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — many from radiation exposure.
There are other issues about the dangers of nuclear power and their fuel and facilities, as I have often mentioned in my “LLAW’s All Things Nuclear” daily posts, one in recent post #880 on Friday, February 21st where I recently wrote:
“Why can’t we the people, all of us everywhere, especially including those of us who reside in the USA, figure out that nuclear power plants are dangerously 2nd only to nuclear warheads and nuclear bombs in this contentious world of threatening nuclear war. The Russia/Ukraine war has proven over and over again that not only are nuclear power plants and their required facilities and utilities dangerous all by themselves but they are also rapidly becoming a huge part of even what we still, erroneously, call “conventional” war because we never stop hiding our collective heads in the sand, ignoring the reality of the problems that exist with every kind of use of ‘all things nuclear beyond a few medical procedures.
Forgetting for a moment about their potentially increasingly foreboding uses in times of war, they are also subject to terrorist attacks, earthquakes, tsunamis, construction failures, operational and functional mistakes, human errors — and the list goes on. Not only are nuclear power plants extremely dangerous, but we have nuclear waste spread all around the world with half-lives almost forever that we have no idea what to do with that are subject to massive radiation leaks as well as contamination of the ground and water they are stockpiled in or on nearby that will never be used for any useful purpose in the future.
Yet we are head over heals in love with the concept of more and more and more of nuclear power plants of all kinds, sizes, and shapes, some of which will actually use military-grade uranium fuel, which can only add to all the dangerous situations mentioned above. All this is in the face of the facts that nuclear energy is not safe, not cheap, subject to geographical financial and production greed, and its merits are built on lies and misunderstandings mostly promulgated by the nuclear industry itself along with all kinds of politicized biases and questionable governmental support.
There is also a huge chance that uranium fuel (or low-grade substitutes like thorium), mined much like coal, does not sufficiently exist on planet Earth to sustain the existing nuclear power plants much less building hordes of new ones. We need to spend our hard earned money on renewable power resources, e.g. wind, solar, hydro, geothermal produced energy, which is plentiful, safe, and far less costly.” ~llaw
I will add that the more nuclear reactors that are built around the world, the more disasters there will be. That is simply the mathematics of progression. ~llaw
Magazine / The Incredibly Misunderstood Story of Nuclear Power
The Incredibly Misunderstood Story of Nuclear Power
Book Bites Politics & Economics Technology
Marco Visscher
25 February, 2025
Marco Visscher is an award-winning journalist from the Netherlands. He was formerly a magazine editor at a bilingual alternative news magazine called The Intelligent Optimist. He has written extensively about climate policy and clean technology. His work includes interviews with prominent intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Lionel Shriver, and Francis Fukuyama. Until recently, he hosted the Dutch podcast Welcome to the Anthropocene.
What’s the big idea?
Nuclear power is an unusual technology that has been misunderstood from its beginning. The story of harnessing this energy is a tale of life and death, hope and fear. Within this narrative, myths have been perpetuated that now hold us back from a potential solution to some of the greatest threats of our time.
Below, Marco shares five key insights from his new book, The Power of Nuclear.
1. Enthusiasm about nuclear power was always exaggerated.
It was a time of warnings about depleting fossil reserves, leaders in the Middle East limiting oil exports, and the first news articles on rising carbon emissions and the possibility of a warming planet. Then came nuclear power: Clean! Modern! Cheap! In the 1950s, the first nuclear plants opened with grand promises that this was the future.
Throughout human history, we had known scarcity. Now, an abundant energy source loomed. Only one gram of uranium could produce as much energy as three tons of coal. In countries facing drought, nuclear plants could provide energy for desalination, eliminating conflicts over scarce water. They could power large-scale fertilizer production, ensuring fertile fields. Nuclear energy could fuel trains, ships, and planes. The possibilities seemed endless. A cigar lighter with an atomic pocket battery, anyone?
Not so fast. Some things proved more difficult to realize, but most importantly, believing a new energy source would be adopted without resistance was naive. In the 1950s, the fossil fuel industry was already so powerful it was hard to eat away a substantial portion of its business. Western societies were experiencing rising living conditions, allowing some to criticize or even ridicule the notion of progress and turn their backs on science and technology—without facing consequences. But most of all, it was foolish to think people would remain excited about an energy source that was introduced to the world in a bomb that scared the hell out of everyone.
2. Fear of nuclear power was always exaggerated.
Long before Chernobyl, there were fears that a nuclear reactor could not be contained: a simple malfunction or mistake could release invisible radiation, causing a spike in cancer and deformities. Storage containers with highly radioactive waste could burst. A reactor could explode like a bomb.
In Europe, these fears were popularized by Günther Schwab in his 1958 novel Der Tanz mit dem Teufel (Dance with the Devil). He founded the World Union for Protection of Life, which opposed the construction of nuclear plants as early as the 1960s. Historians have acknowledged Schwab’s significant role in shaping the anti-nuclear movement, and his book is seen as a “standard work on environmental protection.”
But Schwab was wrong. Of all the ways we produce energy, accidents happen in everything from mining resources to managing waste. When we tally deaths in kilowatts per hour, three sources are by far the safest: solar, wind, and nuclear power.
“The waste from nuclear reactors is well-managed and has never made anyone sick.”
A nuclear plant doesn’t emit greenhouse gases or air pollutants. The waste from nuclear reactors is well-managed and has never made anyone sick. The uranium inside the reactor doesn’t have the destructive power of a bomb. Safety measures are extensive, making accidents rare events. There’s nothing mysterious about radiation, which occurs in nature all around us. It’s easily detectable, and scientists understand its effects on our bodies. We now know that in the event of a meltdown in a typical nuclear reactor, the exposure to radiation among the general public is so low that it can’t do damage.
By the way, Günther Schwab was not a left-wing treehugger. He was a Nazi who joined the SA (a paramilitary organization) in the 1930s and became a Sturmführer. After the war, he remained a staunch supporter of eugenics, lamenting the “loss of prestige of the white race.” For his writings, he was regularly accused of racism. Schwab hated nuclear power for the same reasons some anti-nuclear activists do today: the loss of traditional life, our connection with nature, and the onset of a modern age for all.
3. In Fukushima, nobody died from radiation.
Fukushima has become a symbol of nuclear catastrophe, much like Hiroshima. On March 11, 2011—the day Japan was hit by one of the world’s worst earthquakes and a monstrous tsunami that claimed 20,000 lives—one of the nuclear plants experienced difficulties cooling the fuel rods in the reactor. This resulted in the meltdown of three reactors. Many witnessed hydrogen explosions on television, thinking, “This is what a nuclear disaster looks like!”
The big story of Fukushima is not what happened but what didn’t happen. People did not go to hospitals with acute radiation sickness. In two reports, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation showed there has been no increase in cancer, birth defects, or heart attacks. In fact, there has been no discernible increase in any health effects linked to radiation exposure. Nor does the UN expect such an increase because the radiation dose incurred by the population was, in the words of the UN, “low or very low.” The science says that nobody died from radiation released in Fukushima, and nobody will die from it.
However, UN scientists did find public health effects. More people suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, or alcoholism, especially among the tens of thousands who were told to evacuate, losing their homes, jobs, and sense of community. Years later, a study by several universities deemed the evacuation “excessive,” even “a mistake.” The public health crisis is not due to radiation but to the idea that a nuclear disaster must spell doom.
4. Don’t believe the industry hype about nuclear innovation.
You have probably heard that a wave of innovation is changing the face of nuclear power. There is much talk about small modular reactors and molten salt reactors using thorium. One design is perfect for coastal cities, the other for remote areas. Smaller, safer, more flexible—this is “advanced nuclear.” All these new reactors are cheaper and faster to build.
“The problems with nuclear power have nothing to do with technology.”
What message does it send when nuclear enthusiasts want to do things differently? They reinforce the opponents’ main point: today’s nuclear plants are flawed. It is as if there are fundamental problems with reactors currently in use, as if these are not advanced.
The problems with nuclear power have nothing to do with technology. The problems are between our ears. Innovation can be useful, but aren’t we being a bit naive if we believe the fancy PowerPoint presentations by start-ups looking for investors?
5. Now might be the right time for a nuclear revival.
Imagine that nuclear power did not exist: no atomic bomb, no Hiroshima, no nuclear plant, no Chernobyl. What if someone today figured out how to safely produce energy that would not pollute the air or heat up the planet by using a clean source available 24/7? What if that new energy source required few resources, which are available pretty much everywhere? What if it offered the possibility of reliable and affordable energy needed in poor and emerging countries to industrialize and prosper? And what if this source produced only a tiny bit of waste, better shielded from the environment than any other industrial waste, and even recyclable? Surely, we wouldn’t hesitate to develop such a mighty energy source.
Subscribed
ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO LLAW’s ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA
There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
- All Things Nuclear
- Nuclear Power
- Nuclear Power Emergencies
- Nuclear War Threats
- Nuclear War
- Yellowstone Caldera & Other Volcanoes (Note: There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus story available in today’s Post.)
- IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)
Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.
A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’s NUCLEAR WORLD’s NEWS, Wednesday, (02/26/2025)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Companies are coming to Texas to develop a new generation of nuclear reactors | HPPR
High Plains Public Radio
All Things Considered. High Plains Public Radio. All Things Considered. Next Up: 7:00 PM Evening Classics. 0:00. 0:00. All Things Considered. High …
The Incredibly Misunderstood Story of Nuclear Power – Next Big Idea Club
Next Big Idea Club
But most of all, it was foolish to think people would remain excited about an energy source that was introduced to the world in a bomb that scared the …
US energy secretary touts nuclear power as tech sector’s thirst for electricity grows
WTNH.com
… U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright talks with … How concerned are you, if at all, about civil liberties in America? How …
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Texas becomes a popular spot for nuclear power production companies, report says
YouTube
Several companies shared plans to build reactors in College Station, not far from the Texas A&M University campus. Subscribe to our channel: …
Palisades nuclear plant signs agreement to build first of its kind small modular reactors in Michigan
NBC Connecticut
Holtec International is trying to restart the Palisades nuclear plant and expand it with two small modular reactors through an agreement with …
US energy secretary touts nuclear power as tech sector’s thirst for electricity grows | CBS 42
CBS 42
Nuclear power plants are fueled with uranium — the mining and milling of which is a major sticking point for environmentalists who point to legacy …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Protection of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian-Russia War – HS Today
Homeland Security Today
… Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), the largest nuclear facility in Europe … nuclear emergency response efforts. The international community must …
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Reversing the slide to nuclear war — explained | European Leadership Network
European Leadership Network
Steve Andreasen |National Security Consultant, Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) · Des Browne |Chair of the ELN, Vice Chairman of the NTI, Convener of …
ICBM EAR Report for 22 Feb 2025 – Global Security Review
Global Security Review
… attack, underscoring the strength of the U.S. nuclear deterrence system. … nuclear threats from Russia, China, and Iran. Additionally, it ..
Archbishop Gallagher: Nuclear weapons pose existential threat – Vatican News
Vatican News
Archbishop Gallagher: Nuclear weapons pose existential threat. The Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, …
Nuclear War
NEWS
Reversing the slide to nuclear war — explained | European Leadership Network
European Leadership Network
In February, the ELN and NTI issued a statement on the eve of the 2025 Munich Security Conference (MSC) on steps to reverse the slide to nuclear war.
Iran Deploying Air Defenses To Brace For Possible Us-Israeli Strike | N18G – YouTube
YouTube
Iran has placed its nuclear facilities on high alert bracing for a potential attack by Israel and the United States, According to a report Tehran …
The nuclear consequences of Ukraine losing the war – Asia Times
Asia Times
The nuclear consequences of Ukraine losing the war. If the West abandons Ukraine, game theory suggests the world should expect a fast proliferation of …
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
What Park Rangers Wish You Knew Before Visiting Yellowstone – MSN
MSN
The Secret World of Yellowstone’s Supervolcano: Could It Erupt in Our Lifetime? Discover WildScience. The Secret World of Yellowstone’s …