The Dirty History of Nuclear Power – theme for August 2012
‘The child is father to the man’ – a saying that applies so well to the nuclear industry. It was born in lies and deception, as early research into ionising radiation ( as a palliative treatment for advanced cancer) was perverted into research towards a radioactive killer. The Manhattan Project first set out to devise a weapon that would kill people, while leaving buildings etc intact – a release of radiological material.
In 1995, the US Department of Energy produced the Final Report of the Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. It states: “The first proposed military application of atomic energy was not nuclear weaponry but radiological warfare (RW) – the use of radioactive materials to produce injury“ (http://noelwauchope.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/before-the-bomb/)
Later, this aim was changed, to both devastate a city by explosive blast, (still releasing toxic radioactive materials)
After atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 most nuclear scientists followed the idea of the “peaceful atom” – nuclear technology would somehow be redeemed through ‘cheap’, ‘clean’ nuclear energy.
No so. Following the USA, other countries adopted nuclear reactors, in order to make nuclear bombs. This process continues today – nuclear power remains a fig leaf on nuclear weaponry – it could never have developed without the weapons industry, accompanied by government subsidies.
The nuclear lies and the nuclear killing machines have continued to this day. Nuclear power was never cheap – especially as the costs paid by indigenous peoples have never been included in estimates. Nor have the costs of the virtually endless disposal and security of nuclear wastes.
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