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© Copyright 2000, Jim Loy
Depending upon the source of information, nuclear energy is among the safest forms of energy, and it is among the most dangerous forms of energy. I have come to believe that it is both. How can that be? Well, it is safe; there are incredibly efficient safeguards, and there have been relatively few accidents, and each accident is easily shown to be a case of unusual bad luck and stupidity. And it is unsafe; a mistake can devastate entire cities, and unusual bad luck and stupidity will continue to happen on occasion. Let's think about bad luck and stupidity. Reactors are run by people who make mistakes. They are also run by computers, largely resistant to error except that they are run by people who make mistakes, they are programmed by people who make mistakes, and their programs are bewilderingly complicated, a situation which breeds mistakes. Also, nuclear energy is controlled by incompetent bureaucracies. And nuclear reactors produce nuclear waste, which is difficult, maybe impossible, to dispose of safely. There have been numerous nuclear disasters, and I have reluctantly come to believe that there will be more.