Green Response

A quick response to my last post and the commenter who dared to challenge my greatness.

All Hail Karnman!!!

First, some context. The Three Mile Island accident was not a meltdown, it was a partial meltdown. It was not like Chernobyl in which lots of radioactive fallout was released into the atmosphere. That did not happen with Three Mile Island. The environmental impact was minimal.

This picture that I had in my last post shows how bad it could have been if the meltdown had been complete.

On a side note, who the hell names a city "State College"? Only in Pennsylvania...

However, I still don't trust Nuclear power. When the worst possible scenario for a Nuclear Power Plant means the nation's largest city, it's capital, nine (I think I counted right) state capitals, and the home of the Little League Hall of Fame and International Little League playoffs (Williamsport, PA) will be impacted by radioactive fallout, that might not be good. I'm sure a catastrophic failure of a coal, oil, or natural gas plant isn't good for the environment either, but I'm sure it wouldn't take 20 years to be able to return to the site of the incident unprotected.

Also, shoddy construction and human error is a problem everywhere. The Soviets were known for their shoddy engineering and you could easily bribe them with a pair of jeans and some vodka. However, laziness and ineptitude is not just a Russian/third-world country problem. Several problems including poorly designed machinery and employee inexperience caused Three Mile Island. Thankfully, highly trained workers were able to stop the disaster from getting even worse.

I do think it is stupid the way some people blame The Simpsons and specifically Homer's incompetence at his job at a Nuclear Power plant as the reason people don't trust Nuclear Power. Really? I'm pretty sure Three Mile Island and Chernobyl did more to discourage Nuclear Power, even as memories of the incidents fade away and The Simpsons continues to this day.

But, if we can find a way to prevent meltdowns and can safely dispose of nuclear waste while bringing cheap and clean power to millions of people, I will support Nuclear Power.