11:15 a.m. EDT, May 9, 2013
Dan Ervin's commentary on lifting restrictions on U.S.
companies supplying nuclear power equipment abroad is completely misleading
("A nuclear opportunity," May 6).
Nuclear energy is not, as
Mr. Ervin says, pollutant free or carbon free. Government regulations allow nuclear power
plants to deliberately' and routinely emit hundreds of thousands of curies of
radioactive gases and other radioactive elements into the environment every
day. Radiation cannot be
seen, felt or tasted, so I'm wondering if this is why Mr. Ervin feels he can
credibly say that nuclear power is pollution free.
As far as carbon
dioxide-free, the energy used to create nuclear energy — to mine the uranium
ore, crush, mull and enrich it, then create the concrete and steel container
vessel for the reactor and store the hot radioactive nuclear waste — all comes from the consumption of fossil fuels.
When fossil fuels are burned to produce energy, they
produce carbon dioxide, and for every ton of carbon burned, 3.7 tons of carbon
dioxide gas is released into the atmosphere.
And let's not talk about
the highly radioactive waste that will essentially be around forever, even if a
place is found to store it. Sooner or
later it will end up polluting the environment and harming every living animal
and plant on earth. We have produced more than 300,000 tons of
dangerous nuclear waste at sites around the world that amount just keeps
growing by the day.
Regina Minniss
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