Sooooo the tsunami just hit Japan after that devastating earthquake. We've seen the problems that have begun to happen at the Fukushima prefecture's nuclear power plant. A meltdown is definitely possible. This isn't to way that the cause of all these problems was human design though. This meltdown is only going to happen because an earthquake and tsunami, two natural disasters, occurred. There is no need for panic or alarm that those facilities in the United States which are built similarly are in any danger. The odds of a catastrophic tsunami in Japan are so minute, and that's light years ahead of any danger the Eastern seaboard would face. The fault lines and Ring of Fire establish that any important construction projects in the Asian continent's Pacific Ocean side must be able to stand up to an earthquake for the most part. No one guessed a tsunami would come immediately following. Basically, a perfect storm has allowed some cesium to escape into the atmosphere. Yes, I'm sure that there is some health risks for those nearby. However, this is not the time to lose a level head and start pointing fingers and claiming nuclear energy is horrible and will kill us all.
Jokes like the one above just help incite the populace against nuclear energy, when the only real problem is the disposal of the waste. Once this part is figured out, there is no telling how much benefit can be gained.
Comics like this one are just fallacies that say "well because BP messed up a sure thing with Deepwater Horizon, nuclear energy is bound to go wrong...and our point is proven thanks to that tsunami!"
This is downright shameful. It's cleaner and better than coal. While coal might be cheaper and easier to use, it has intense emissions problems.
In essence, nuclear energy is still amazing, and it should looked at as a viable alternative. While it won't do much to get us off foreign oil like switching to electric cars would, the vast amount of cheap electricity from a cheap substance could make electric cars in higher demand.
PS- this blog was typed ages ago, but I hit Save as Draft. Whoops!
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