Reviving U.S. nuclear power 30 years after 3 Mile Island

William Atkins
Saturday, 28 March 2009 19:40

Science - Energy

As Three Mile Island warned us thirty years ago, human errors and technical defects can combine to produce a catastrophe.

In addition, with terrorism at our doorsteps, we have to be ever vigilant to never backslide into complacency, apathy, and indifference.

History will repeat itself if we let it. Ignorance will help it along.

It is always amazing to me when I hear such statement as what was discussed in the before-mentioned article by ABC News.

In the ABC News article, it quotes Mark Brownstein, a former electric utility lawyer who now works for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). He is obviously old enough to remember Three Mile Island, but not the other person in his office.

Brownstein states (underlines included to add emphasis), “In terms of the operation of existing units, the track record's pretty good. The units run pretty reliably. Whether that is enough to change public perception about nuclear safety, that's an open question…. And there's a generational issue here…. I was just talking to a young woman in our office about Three Mile Island and she said, 'What's Three Mile Island?' The up-and-coming generation is too young to remember the accident."

I don’t buy this argument that “I’m too young to remember Three Mile Island.” We should be teaching our young people U.S. history and the mistakes we have made in the past so we do not repeat them in the future.

Other countries should be doing likewise with their history and mistakes.

And, young people, and people of all ages, should be informed enough to say that they (at least) know “of” Three Mile Island, and know enough to look up some information about it on the Internet ... or are we too busy texting each other about useless gossip.

We have sources of information literally at our finger tips--I’m typing with them now on a keyboard attached to my computer, attached to the Internet, attached to a wealth of information on Three Mile Island.

The excuse that I don’t know about Three Mile Island is a poor excuse at best.

Albert Einstein stated, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”