Our letter, published today in the Washington Post, argues that further fortifying nuclear plants cannot guarantee public safety. Only shutting them will. Read the letter on the Washington Post website or reproduced below:
The Washington Post
Letter to the Editor
Keeping nuclear plants safe from severe weather
Published: November 2
Protecting nuclear plants from the catastrophic consequences of failure during a natural disaster will take more than higher sea walls and backup generators [“Shutdown of 3 nuclear reactors dubbed a ‘wake-up call,’ ” news story, Oct. 31]. Even if diesel generators keep reactors running in the event of a loss of off-site power, the fuel pools have no such backup. Spent-fuel pools across the United States hold hundreds of tons of irradiated nuclear fuel. Without power, water-circulation pumps stop operating. If the pool water then boils down to the tops of the irradiated nuclear fuel assemblies, the assemblies could catch fire once exposed to air, causing radioactivity releases.
It is not nuclear plants that need protecting from nature. It is humanity that needs protecting from nuclear plants. Rather than risk such a disaster, the United States should shut its nuclear reactors, remove the fuel to fortified casks and begin to implement wide-scale renewable energy and energy-efficiency measures while emphasizing conservation.
Linda Pentz Gunter, Takoma Park
The writer is an international specialist with the group Beyond Nuclear.