So, the governor in the name of “clean energy” wants to dump a 1982 referendum requiring another to approve any new nuclear facilities in the state.
As guest columnist Ann Darling emphasized in May, “dump” is the critical word, since there has yet to be any solution to the critical problem of what to do with unquestionably dirty nuclear waste. I’ve read several problematic pieces by journalists about of how climate change has made nuclear power a viable alternative. A Boston Globe writer, for example, never once mentioned nuclear waste disposal.
I was a Clamshell Alliance member and co-author of “No Nukes: Everyone’s Guide to Nuclear Power” (South End Press, 1979). I also edited a national newsletter for antinuclear activists of all political stripes from across the country published by the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, a Washington-based nonprofit. I worked there during the Three Mile Island accident, when many people called our national toll-free line to express their fears and/or provide inside information, sometimes because they confused NIRS with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
I personally collected the minutes of the NRC’s first meeting after TMI and they revealed the panelists spent an inordinate amount of time at the beginning deciding what to order for breakfast from a nearby fast-food restaurant. That didn’t inspire much confidence in the regulatory process, especially since a friend at the Department of Energy had advised me to follow his example and keep a running reservation of airlines out of National Airport on the event of the worst happening.
Don Michak
Northampton