HW: The fault that destroyed Fukushima was 120 kilometers away. The faults at Diablo, Indian Point and many other reactors are much much closer. A 9.0 shock like the way from Fukushima could render these reactors into seething piles of rubble about which nothing could be done. The amounts of radiation from both the cores and the fuel pools would be apocalyptic.
It is patently insane to allow these reactors to continue to operate. Fukushima has spewed more than 30 times as much radioactive cesium as Hiroshima. Do we really want to be taking these kinds of risks?
JB: Your statistic about radioactive cesium is unnerving, even if I have no idea what cesium is. However, it's clear that anything that's many multiples worse than Hiroshima is hardly a good thing. When you say "much much closer", what does that mean? Which population centers are you referring to and how many people would be affected? The more concrete you can make this, Harvey, the better our understanding, fear and outrage.
HW: Chicago is ringed with reactors less than 50 miles from the Loop downtown. Indian Point is 45 miles from Times Square. Radiation releases like those from Fukushima could do huge harm to very large numbers of people. Lucky for Japan, Fukushima is 150 miles from Tokyo and most of the radiation blew out to sea.
That was not so lucky for California, where fallout was detected within a week. From Chernobyl it took ten days. All these long-lived, lethal isotopes are with us essentially forever, and do inestimable harm.
So when you're talking about fallout from nuclear plants you're talking about the destruction of human beings all over the planet for many many years.
JB: That brings it home for me. I'm sitting at work just a few miles from the Loop. Yikes! But we're not even safe from what happens beyond our shores. The fallout from Fukushima making its way to the West Coast is a very under-told story. Why is that and how nervous should West Coasters be?
HW: We all must be concerned, but it's folly to try to run from fallout. In 1979, people assumed the fallout from Three Mile Island would head due east but some went due north and some even went west, totally counter to prevailing wind patterns, which always shift.
Some argue you might be safer in the southern hemisphere, but it's just not to be predicted. The only way to be safe is to SHUT THEM ALL DOWN!!!
JB: Amen to that! How can people learn more? Do you have an action page for those who want to engage in this fight?
HW: What's really heartening is that there are so many action pages to go to. We post some at www.nukefree.org and there are many more places people can look for actions to take.
But I always tell folks who ask: pick your local nuke and shut it down. There is no substitute for personal involvement with a local polluter. That includes fracking and all other forms of pollution. Go to the source and show your face in person. It's a hundred times more effective than what we can do online.
And there's no more satisfying feeling than winning a local fight. In this town (central Ohio), we shut a trash burner, saved a wildlife refuge, beat a McDonalds, stopped a nuke dump and much more. In each case, I can go to the site and get that great feeling of having helped save a piece of the planet.
Ditto installing new technologies. My daughter's house in LA now has solar panels that save them up to $3k/year. We have a compost and "natural clothes dryer" in the back, plus south-facing solar windows.
So it's a two-pronged deal---fight the dirty King CONG [coal, oil, nuclear and gas] corporations around the corner, where they can see you, and make your own little Solartopia at home. Most effective and most satisfying way to go!!!
JB: Thanks so much for talking with me again, Harvey. It's always a pleasure. Very soon, you and I are going to discuss your recent piece, provocatively entitled, "Corporate Personhood Is The Ebola Virus Of Climate Chaos". I'm looking forward to it!
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