By Rosin Yoshida
The most urgently needed problem to solve is stopping "nuclear winter" - which could be caused by nuclear bombs, power accidents, manmade wars, mishaps, terrorism, or natural disasters like the nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima, Japan. Its No. 4 reactor fuel pool was about to melt and irradiate and make Tokyo uninhabitable; luckily, an accidental work schedule delay caused a water leak to the spent fuel pool, preventing its drying up. The plant is still vulnerable to more and stronger earthquakes - which may cause uncontrollable damage which spreads meltdowns to other reactors, and which could cause even more devastating impacts.
There are no safe nuclear power plants or bombs anywhere. The "Atoms for Peace" propaganda was to hide continued bomb material production of uranium and plutonium in the States. Other governments want to keep or restart nuclear reactors for the same reason.
The nuclear plants spew radiation into the air, water, and earth, irradiating workers, nearby residents, living beings, and life systems- even with normal operation. The nuclear industry still has not yet found any safe storage method for spent fuel, which is radioactive for thousands or millions of years.
Natural disasters, human mishaps from design, operation, decommissioning and terrorism, could all destroy people's life, ecology, and food. It is threatening, unethical, and the capital crime against all living beings and life system; it is uncontrollable by men. That is why, after Fukushima, 80% of the Japanese people are against nuclear power and want to shut down all 54 reactors. None want money for death.
Author Rev. Rosan Osamu Yoshida, Ph.D. is a Sierra Club member and Abbot of the Missouri Zen Center.