<a id="ctl00_MainContent_lblHeadline" class="ArticleHeadline" href="http://www.dailytech.com/AntiNuclear+Forces+Manufacture+PseudoScandal/article8546.htm">Anti-Nuclear Forces Manufacture Pseudo-Scandal</a><br>
<a id="ctl00_MainContent_lblAuthorByline" class="DateStory" href="mailto:masher@dailytech.com">Michael Asher</a><br>
Daily Tech - <span id="ctl00_MainContent_lblDate" class="DateStory">August 22, 2007<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal">...but will the public fall for it?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In rural Tennessee
lies a small uranium processing plant. In operation since the 1960s, its
primary activity today is converting nuclear warhead material into a form no
longer usable for weapons, but suitable for nuclear power plants.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Last year, the facility experienced a leak in a transfer
line, spilling some nine gallons of uranium solution onto a floor. The company
took appropriate cleanup measures, and immediately notified the Nuclear
Regulatory Committee, which investigated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Their conclusions? Had the leak not drained onto a floor,
but into some sort of bowl-shaped container, the fluid might have been able to
amplify its own weak level of radiation. Had a worker not wearing protective
gear been nearby at that particular moment, they might have received a
dangerous, or even fatal dose. None of these events happened, of course, but
even if they had, the risk to the public at large would still have been zero.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Zero. None.<span style=""> </span>Zip.<span style=""> </span>Nada. Zilch.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> The NRC issued a reprimand to the plant operator, Nuclear
Fuel Services Inc, and ordered the hiring of an outside team of experts for to
review all safety practices. Ordinarily the action would have gone into the
public record immediately. But because NFSI supplies fuel to the U.S. Navy, the
DOE had previously required all documents sealed for further review.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> You might think this is the end of an amazingly boring
non-story.<span style=""> </span>Not so. A year later, that
review finally happened, and the commission decided there was no national
security threat from disclosing the event. And so our alarmist media learned of
it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Reaction was swift. "Uncontrolled Nuclear Reaction
Possible!" screamed news stories. "Public Kept in Dark!"
"Veil of Secrecy Must Be Lifted!" Papers in London
and Paris even
picked up the story, repeating the alarmist calls verbatim. While some of the
more responsible journalists eventually admitted there was no risk to the
public, they usually did so in the final paragraph of a lengthy story, ensuring
most of their readers would not be burdened by that inconvenient truth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Environmental groups were even more shrill. The Sierra
Club's anti-nuclear task force went into immediate overtime, demanding to know
why the company wasn't fined, or even shut down. A SWAT team of Sierra Club activists
descended upon the site, where they promptly organized public meetings for
"concerned citizens," and called for the NRC to hold public hearings
to explain their actions. Combining innuendo and hand-waving, they attempted to
convince area residents their property and very lives were at stake.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> This, ladies and gentlemen, is why clean, cheap, safe
nuclear power is dead on the vine in this country. It's why we still burn
millions of tons of coal each year, despite the horrendous cost in
environmental damage and the thousands of lives lost to coal mining. It's why
widespread use of electric cars will still result in enormous amounts of toxic
emissions, and why the "hydrogen economy" can never be practical.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To those of you who care about the environment, I say this.
If you want to do some good -- go and protest the Sierra Club. Demand more
responsible, biased reporting by your news media. And let your government
representatives know you're too educated to fall for such manipulative fear
tactics.<br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">GS<br>
</p>
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