Nuclear energy isn’t the monster that some people think it is. I heard a commercial today that bashed MidAmerican Energy for wanting to build another nuclear plant in Iowa. The commercial, which was sponsored by an organization called, “Friends of the Earth,” stated that nuclear energy was bad, and “Remember what happened in Japan?”
But the issue isn’t even about whether or not nuclear is bad, it’s about MidAmerican Energy wanting customers to pay for the new plant. And instead of sticking to that issue, their commercial seems to be using all the negative myths that nuclear energy is trying desperately to squash.
All types of energy has pros and cons, but it’s unfair for an organization to use scare tactics to try to sway the public into siding with them. If they were to tell the truth, they would also tell you that nuclear power is one of the safest, most efficient, and cleanest energies we have today, (according to the Department of Energy) and the accident in Japan happened because an earthquake created a tsunami, which took out the electricity, which caused the water to stop flowing.
If the Japanese would have found a way to bring water into the plant, it would have saved the melt-down.
Building a nuclear plant on a shore fault line was probably where they made their first mistake.
One of the downfalls of nuclear energy is the constant battle to find a safe place to store the waste. But all types of energy has pros and cons. Is using gas, oil, or coal any better? Thousands of people die every year and the environment is suffering because of the effects of dirty energy.
In a perfect world, we would be using wind, water, or solar power to create our energy. But until we figure out how to do that effectively, maybe we should try work together to come up with a solution, and not use fear to try to sway people into seeing things our way.