Isn’t it kind of ironic that radiation has (supposedly) arrived on US soil from a broken reactor in Japan? Not just any reactor. A reactor designed in America. I suppose that their first time delivery method is better than what ours was.
That said, I think that the design of the reactor must be pretty good to withstand not only a magnitude 9 earthquake but survive (sort of) multiple aftershocks and a tsunami.
It’s too bad that the disaster in Japan will likely kill any future nuclear power plans. Over priced, over-subsidized, big fans and over-subsidized “corn-a-hol” isn’t going to dent the energy needs of this country. Besides that… Energy is not just about lighting a bulb. Petrochemicals rule our lives. From the pixels on our monitor to the plastic in our cars, to the packaging of our food, to the TP we use, we are surrounded by products derived from petrochemicals and we aren’t going to wean off of them anytime soon, if at all.
There is definately a great deal to know about this issue.
I love all the points you’ve made.