First of all, this is not going to interest you if you can't see outside the tiny life bubble that most of us live in, nor will it interest you if you can't bear to be realistic about the negative implications of certain activities affecting your life and your world. If you fit in any of the above descriptions, please return to playing farmville, watching X factor and don't be alarmed, your ignorance is bliss. I wouldn't want to change that. I want to talk about nuclear power. Specifically, the UK's new plan for nuclear power. Ever heard of the MOX plant at Sellafield? Probably not. The MOX plant is designed to turn depleted civilian plutonium into usable nuclear fuel. It is right next door to the lake district and boasts the world's largest supply of civilian depleted plutonium. Plutonium, by the way, is possibly the most deadly substance known to man. It is currently considered one of the largest security risks in the UK but I will avoid talking about that side of things as that involves terrorism and many people have no idea what terrorism really is and who the terrorists really are. When the MOX plant was completed and became operational, output was 10% of the anticipated amount. It is one of the largest industrial flops (disasters) in the UK's history, described by US intelligence and others as a white elephant. The plan was to take other countries' depleted plutonium from them and sell it back to them as usable fuel. This is a big contributing factor to the size of our stockpile. The biggest customer to this service was supposed to be... Japan! And who are shutting down all their nuclear power facilities? Japan! So who's NOT going to be buying our highly hazardous product? Japan! So who's stuck with it? Us. So, as a country, we have a dilemma - namely, what to do with our massive stockpile of plutonium. We can't turn it ALL into weapons (though doubtless a good chunk of it will go in that direction) because there's just too much of it, so we have no viable economic option except to build more nuclear power facilities. And, because of the poor performance of the original MOX plant, another MOX plant! The MOX plants produce nuclear waste that is even harder to deal with than normal waste and the normal operation of the plant releases many toxins and pollutants into the environment, much of which will do its damage in the form of acid rain. So, besides the obvious security risks, we should expect a rise in cancers, birth defects and elements of nature (animals, plants) being poisoned to the point of death in whichever parts of Britain that the extra facilities are built in and wherever is downwind from those facilities on any given day. Also, wherever that extra-harmful waste is disposed of will suffer, and suffer badly. The most favourable estimates will see our pollution levels rise - with everything that goes with that - while our economy goes from fucking terrible to just bloody terrible. The least favourable estimates... Basically, ecological genocide. We are on the verge of a sequence of events that will change a lot in the world around us (if we take the time to notice) and the effects will last for hundreds of years. I am very disturbed and made angry by the news that another MOX plant will be built, along with several (that's right, more than one) nuclear power generating plants. Prepare to meet some mutants in the next couple of decades, if we make it that far. Our remaining areas of astounding natural beauty will become wastelands akin to those seen on the Fallout video games. You may have heard that Germany will be closing down its nuclear facilities by 2020. This is an out and out lie, no economic model can be produced to justify that course of action and Germany will be forced to increase its energy output by that time. France supplies Germany with most of its nuclear power but France will have to provide for itself as fossil fuels dry up or become more expensive, leaving Germany to provide for itself. Germany will depend on heavily on coal energy production for the next few years as it makes alterations to its nuclear plan. Incidentally, the affect that depleted uranium and plutonium's appearance on the battlefield has had on the planet is one of the most little-known environmental atrocities humankind has ever committed. The use of such weapons in the middle east (which started around 1970) causes radioactive nano-particles to be spread as far as New Zealand. The Tazmanian Devil has suffered aggressive throat and mouth cancers in a large fraction of its population because of NATO and Isreali troops using these and other such weapons. Also, Iran is more and more these days being accused of developing nuclear weapons. This is simply not true. France and Germany have assisted Iran in developing a civilian nuclear programme, there is no evidence to support the claims that nuclear weapons are on the agenda. My advice: Run for the hills!!!
If the waste particles spread from Iran to NZ, what is the point in running to the hills? Is there any realistic contribution that we can attain or shall I buy myself a TV and start watching X-factor...we need solutions.
Sigh... Do you really think I meant literally run for the hills? I would think the best solution is to spread awareness and join protests or something but I don't think that's going to halt the plans. We have no choice in the matter. A campaign of terror is the only realistic solution in my eyes but that's quite a hard one to pull off, people are too scared to join radical groups. It is sad to say that violence is the only solution left but it clearly is nowadays. Unless those involved with the opposition of plans like this are prepared to go on the offensive then the machine will continue to roll along, crushing all in its path.
