"Holy Cow . . . every reactor in US should be shut down

[Oscar]

Holy Cow: Former Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Says Every Single Reactor in the U.S. Should Be Shut Down

[ http://www.alternet.org/environment/for ... -should-be ]

September 4, 2013 | Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Other Words [1] / By Emily Schwartz Greco [2], William A. Collins [3]

The nuclear industry is having its own meltdown.

The first thing to remember about nuclear power is that it’s not safe. Just ask Japan.

The second thing to remember is that nuclear power isn’t cheap. Connecticut draws half its juice from nuclear reactors [4] and has the second-highest rates in the country [5], after Hawaii.

The third thing to know is that everybody lies about it. The power plant designers lie, the builders lie, the utility companies lie, the regulators lie, and the politicians lie.

Take Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the utility that ran the reactors in Japan’s Fukushima prefecture that failed after a tsunami and earthquake struck. TEPCO still won’t admit just how serious a disaster that was and continues to be.

But kids living downwind are already getting thyroid cancer [6], fish in the nearby sea are no longer safe to eat [7], and radioactive tuna are cruising the California coast [8]. As with the Chernobyl disaster, tens of thousands of people may never be free to return home [9].

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