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Nuclear Power in Perspective by John Droz, Jr. April 5, 2011 Since I believe that most every cloud has a silver lining, let me state that some of what has happened with the nuclear reactors in Japan has been extremely beneficial. For one thing, a nuclear facility finally experienced the dreaded cataclysmic event. Were millions of people stricken or obliterated? No. Compared to what nature did to Japan, the nuclear consequences will be relatively small. To understand the extraordinary forces that these reactors were subjected to, consider that the power of the nearby earthquake has been estimated to equal some 300,000 atomic bombs! If that wasn’t enough, there was then a thirty foot tsunami added to it. So what are some of the good things? 1. The public can now see that even under this extreme case, there was plenty of time to give surrounding communities notice and for citizens to have an orderly precautionary evacuation. 2. The public can see that even these outdated forty year old reactors held up exceptionally well, as only minimum radiation has been released. 3. Despite terms like “meltdown” the public can see that even under these once-ina-lifetime occurrences, that there will not be any nuclear explosion. 4. The public will hopefully get more educated about nuclear power realities, and will be less swayed by sensationalism in the future. 5. The experiences learned here will insure that existing and future reactors will be even safer yet. 6. This might be the impetus needed to move to thorium units1 and/or mininuclear.2 Both of these have big advantages over conventional nuclear power. One person brought up to me that things like this and Three Mile Island were horrible tragedies. I asked what was so horrific about Three Mile Island and they said that it was because “it was preventable.” Hmmm. The fact is that every accident is preventable, so what? The questions are what are the costs and consequences of such prevention? In the fifty± years we have had nuclear power in the US, how many deaths have been caused by it? I’m not aware of any being proven. 1