This is to all our young, progressive people who are genuinely concerned about our planet and the climate crisis. We should all be just as freaked out. It is our Big Existential Crisis.
But please don’t let the powerful, greedy, nuclear industry—which includes nuclear weapons as well as nuclear energy—brainwash you into thinking nukes are the answer.
We no longer live in a world where it is a choice of “nuclear or more fossil fuels.” As was proven recently during the horrible “heat dome” week, battery storage was the factor that saved the day. Not Diablo Canyon. Let 21st century technology deal with 21st century problems. Not some holdover from the Cold War days.
You may not be worried about radiation risks. You might think it’s a small price to pay for the bigger problem of climate change. But before you make up your mind, you should talk to those whose lives are being affected by the mining and milling of uranium necessary to create the nuclear fuel to power the plants. These are environmental justice violations forced on the poor and indigenous, living in areas with no political power. Do you want to be a part of that?
Find out more about the entire industry before you become unwitting cheerleaders for a corrupt industry.
Dev Young
Los Osos
This article appears in Autumn Arts Annual 2022.
Dev Young could not be more wrong or misleading. First of all, nuclear power and nuclear weapons are TOTALLY separate industries.; zero in common. The CA heat event was survived precisely because Diablo was on-line, putting 2,400,000,000 watts onto our grid without requiring air pollution, wasteful battery mines, land use, or fossil fuels. Lastly, this comment’s claims of environmental injustice or corruption are also devoid of meaning or reason. Maybe we need to proofread this nonsense before we print it?
Battery storage “saved the day”? Specifics please. Where is this nattery storage? I am not aware of any battery storage facility which fed any appreciable amount of power into the public grid.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022…
What “nuclear industry” are you referring to? Diablo Canyon is the only operating nuclear power plant in California. Yes, I am well aware of 3 Mile Island, Nukegate, and other nuclear power controversies. But that’s pretty much the same story for all industrial mishaps in America, including renewable energy. If anything, due to nuclear energy being the most regulated and monitored sector in power generating industry, it’s probably the safest and most cost effective energy source today.