The wheels have come off the wagon

The wheels have come off the wagon

There are two (2) nuclear power stations in my electrical power reliability council. Each station is comprised of two (2) reactors for a total of 4 in the state. Five years ago, planning commenced to double the mandatory evacuation radius from 25 to 50 miles. This evacuation standard was universally agreed upon. Disaster contingency plans included (free) anti-radiation drugs distributed to every home and business in the evacuation region. Regional hospital decontamination expansion plans were underway. Water storage was to be increased by eight-fold. Contingency plans were to be borne by KWH electrical surcharges. Plans were also underway to double the statewide reactor count to (eight) 8 with more on the horizon. I was good with all that. So to speak, “God’s on his throne and all is well with the world.”

Unfortunately the wheels have come off the wagon. George Walker Bush summarily killed the mandatory 50 mile evacuation radius. Barack Hussein Obama tossed the entire national strategic drug supply in the dumpster. The aging, corroded, defective designed GE Mark 1 systems across the nation licenses were unilaterally doubled in duration. A chancy scheme to ‘up-rate’ these dangerous beasts by plutonium fuel enrichment, was jammed down our throats.

Then, along came Fukushima. The mechanical disasters in Japan highlighted the known failure modes of the GE Mark 1 systems and the cobbled-together venting apparatus. Fire engine pumper trucks, which would have prevented the meltdowns, were not dispatched to the Fukushima nuclear station. Evacuation warning systems were not engaged. The earthquakes, tsunami and electrical grid failures, forced the Japanese public unprotected into the radionuclide storm. Evacuation routes negligently drove the masses into the ‘hottest’ areas of the nuclear fallout. There were no anti-radiation drugs or decontamination sites provided to the victims. The land, air, water and sea are a witches brew of deadly contaminants.

Next came the calloused lying, which has intensified with time. The mechanical failures are compounded by the now evident moral hazard. It is now officially ‘game-over’ for the nuclear power industry. I am good with that.

Shut ‘er down!

Bill Duff