[TheForge] Hellooooooo!

[Demon Buddha]

Todd Rich wrote:

> So the French don't have people problems?  They are running a large 
> chunk of their power off of nuclear plants and reprocessing the fuel and 
> vitrifying the waste.

	Certainly they do, but the French run things with a fundamentally 
different attitude from that of Americans.  If we instituted the same 
procedural rigor in the design, installation, and operation of a nuclear 
power facility that we took with SAC weapons systems (missiles and 
bombers), then I would not have a problem with going that way, assuming 
that the wastes can in fact be dealt with adequately.  But how many 
incidents have there been of contractors cutting corners on critical 
elements of a reactor's construction?  How about the decision to locate 
Diablo Canyon on top of an earthquake fault in California?  This is the 
kind of shit that makes this nation not only a laughing stock in the 
eyes of the world, but a dangerous one at that.  Here, there is always 
some money angle that blackens the works.  Some dickhead will use bad 
materials because they cost $2 less, which he pockets, knowing that no 
matter what happens, there will be little if any consequence.

	Look at Kenny boy and his buddies at Enron.  They ruined countless tens 
of thousands of lives and they're basically laughing through their days. 
  No accountability.  That is what is scary about allowing nuclear 
energy to gain a new foothold.  Solve that problem, the solutions of 
which are not that hard to come to, and it would probably all be OK. 
Until then I would not trust it to the door.  You need real 
accountability with real horrors waiting for those that betray the 
public trust.  This isn't an academic exercise.