Nuclear energy is cleaner than fossil fuel 

I thank S.A. Meyers of Orcutt for the June 2 letter to the editor, “Nuclear energy can be dangerous,” responding to my May 26 letter, “Make your political support about nuclear energy.” We need to focus strongly on nuclear power versus the burning of fossil fuels. This is, without hyperbole, the most important topic in the world—more than the election, more than ISIS, income disparity, you name it.

Why? Because the fate of all our other priorities is riding on the outcome. Burning fossil fuel is well on its way to making our planet unlivable. Look out the window for your first example.

James Hansen and others have written that our drought is driven by climate change. We have 400 parts per million (PPM) of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Carbon dioxide warms earth. A normal level of CO2 is 200 to 250 PPM. Too much CO2 equals too much warming and that dries up water and land.

S.A. Meyers says natural gas is not “dirty.” That has some truth to it, in that natural gas has about half the CO2 of dirtier coal. But natural gas, like all burning of fossil fuels, creates pollution that we breathe into our lungs. These tiny carbon particles can enter deep into our bodies and bloodstream, poisoning the body and causing lung cancer, stroke, heart disease, emphysema, asthma, and other serious human illnesses that can sicken and kill us.

But fossil fuel hits with a double whammy: It harms human health and can eventually make our life-supporting planet unlivable. The California water situation is just the first step in destroying our planetary life-support system. 

Meyers refers to the deep fears of protesters of Diablo Canyon. Humans are capable of false, as well as valid, fears. Sen. Joseph McCarthy instilled great fear in America, telling us communists lurked inside our government and were planning to take over.

Meyers doubts there was no injury or death at Fukushima from the reactor incidents triggered by a tsunami. The special U.N. agency, UNSCEAR, contains top world experts on radiation and other reactor accident characteristics. They wrote that no one was killed in the incident, and no one will be injured or die from released radiation. Other academic and government entities have validated these findings.

But there are people so attached to their fears, no amount of evidence will convince them. Do your own research.

Take action to save the world for your children.