Ron Alexander
When nuclear plants were first opening in the Southeast, local people saw them as part of an economic boon, as their salaries were much higher than the other local industries. Unfortunately, the new workers were not educated adequately of the danger of radiation poisoning, especially the long-term more subtle effect.
Jan, a science major at UNC, was an adventurer, who loved Marine Science and sailing. Unable to get a lucrative job, she went back to UNC graduate school in Environmental Science (specializing in water quality). Upon getting her M.A., she accepted a job as one of the first Radiation Safety Officers at a Nuclear Plant in North Carolina. She was shocked at the carelessness of the workers there, especially when transferring the waste to tankers for a trip to Barnwell, South Carolina Nuclear Waste Facilities. Since she was new, she had a hard time exerting any influence over the workers. They had already been doing it their unsafe way for over a decade. Jan, who quit after a couple of frustrating years, agrees that the conditions were much like that of the 1983 movie “Silkwood”. This film was based on a true story about Karen Silkwood, who worked at a nuclear processing plant, and was mysteriously killed in an accident, while taking evidence of unsafe practices to a reporter.
Andy, a welder, making a relatively good living, in North Carolina, when he was accepted a much higher salary to work at the same nuclear plant. He verifies that most of his co-workers were careless, and even when radiated, would leave early or even skip the prescribed scrubbing. “What you can’t see can’t hurt you.” appeared to be common theme with many of these workers.
Andy’s extraordinary story typifies the danger of Nuclear plants to our environment. One of his primary jobs was to check the welds and valves on the Plutonium tank. A leak from this seventy foot high tank could be catastrophic, so Andy spent a lot of his time checking the tank’s weld spots and valves. It was brought home to him how vital his job was to the security of the plant, when the first few times he checked the valves and weld spots, there were three security officers with shotguns pointing at him. He said they were ordered to shoot him, if he started welding above the primary valve, as there would be no other valve to stop the leak. His only child was born with Spina Bifida, a condition never seen before in his or his wife’s family.
My ex-wife’s father died of radiation poisoning from the Savannah River Plant when he was in his mid-forties. There was no doubt about the cause of his tragic early death, as all his children living at home at the time of his demise were awarded a hefty sum of money, from the federal government.
Nuclear power is a carbon-free fuel and is promoted as a “clean” fuel. However, the by-product - depleted uranium is highly toxic, hard to transfer safely, and has a half-life of 4.5 million years, meaning wherever it is stored, is permanently contaminated. As there is a limited diminishing supply of fossil fuel, so it is with uranium, continually escalating the price of this very expensive fuel. Is it a safe and clean alternative energy source?
No comments:
Post a Comment