I am against nuclear energy since I was a little child. Maybe this is because I remember tchernobyl although I was just in the kindergarten. For some time, don't ask me how long because I was so little, we weren't allowed to drink milk, eat mushrooms, etc. And tchernobyl is not the next place to Bremen (we lived there at that time).
We had to change the sand in the playgrounds at the kindergarten and a lot of kindergarten put all the sand in the middle of the city to a big hill in front of the town hall to protest against the use of nuclear energy.
Since I am a scientist and my study had a lot of physics integrated I am more than ever against the use of this kind of technology. The riscs which are involved with it are not worth to consider using nuclear energy. We all know that humans will never be perfect. Nothing we handle or build is safe against human errors. And more over we can't control nature.
Even without something happening... you know how long our children and their children will have the atomic waste? You can count in 100.000 years or even up to a million years until the rest of the radiotation is gone and up until now there is no safe way to store the old nuclear fuel rods.
Okay, this was a short summary of the topic just to give way to my thoughts at the moment. I know the information is just superficial (and also not neutral) but I don't like to go any deeper in this blog. But I am open to give the scientific sources, facts, etc is someone is interested.
I was so happy after our last government decided the exit for the use of nuclear energy in germany. Something the actual government retracted and made a new contract with our energy companies (and everybody here knows that it was only politic for them). If any new government would cancel this contract it would cost germany too much money. You understand why I am feeling sick?
But know, after the catastrophe still happening in japan, we have a moratorium for three months. In this time the saftey of our nuclear power plants is going to be controlled. You know, we have nuclear power plants in regions with earthquakes, we have really old ones without independet cooling system... the list is long.
All this was known.
But only after something happened finally some also always known risks are being considerworthy.
It makes me sick and sad and furious at the same time that always something terrible has to happen to people before somethings changes. That only bad injuries and death seems to have any influence.
And a lot people here belive that after the three months our government will say nevertheless: It's all safe.
All what happened in the last weeks was a little bit much. The changes in a lot of countries in north africa to the catastrophe in japan. Nothing for words in a blog.
But thankfully our friends involved in this are all safe, one friend was visiting his family in syria and although it seems stable there I was really worried if everything was okay there and if he would come back safe to germany, two other ones were in japan at the time of the earthyquake but are also now on the way back.
Hi, Claire - the situation in Japan has me feeling sick, also. It's interesting (but in a terrible way) that this time the problem does not involve human error, rather, these terrible natural disasters. Humanity and engineering are no match for these forces. My little brother lived in Japan for 4 years and has many friends there. I am worried, nervous and very sad. Thanks for this post, my dear!
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