Ain’t it a shame, about the radium rain?

Recording artist Bruce Cockburn tells of his experience visiting Germany only three days after the Chernobyl accident:

“Radium Rain, for instance, came out of, uh, my own experience of the aftermath of Chernobyl, in Germany. I’d gotten, I arrived in Germany three days after Chernobyl happened. I had wrestled with myself to some degree before I left, thinking “Oh, I don’t know. I wonder about going to Europe at this moment.” But it seemed like it wouldn’t matter where you were anyway, that stuff’s gonna come down on you sooner or later so I might as well go and see what it looked like. And I did and it was very interesting experience, and, uh, quite frightening in some respects and funny in others. The extremes that people went to. The extremes that governments went to to try to sort of suppress peoples anxiety about the whole thing and it became ridiculous at a certain point, you know. At first they’re saying, and I’m sure it was true of all the governments involved, they were saying Oh, there’s no problem, you know, those stupid Russians just made a mistake, but we’ve got it together, don’t worry about it”. And, you know, the next day they’d be saying “Well there’s a little bit of a problem, don’t let your kids play in the dirt”, you know. And the next, the next day, or week later they’d be saying “Well, you know, if you’re a mechanic, you should avoid changing the air filters of cars, unless you’re wearing protective clothing, and, you know, if you’re a pedestrian, hold your breath when cars go by, cuz of the dust”, you know. And I mean it’s absurd. How can you possibly not breath when the cars are going by on the street? And it just went from the horrific to the ridiculous.” – from “Interview and Segments” a CD released in 1990 by True North/Epic. Anonymous submission.

So I’m living here in California, it’s Friday and it’s going to rain. The climate models indicate we could hear from our geiger counters today for the first time since the nuclear disaster in Japan started. I know it will seem like a trivial amount of exposure and folks will say “don’t worry!” But what I’m worried about is that the Fukushima situation is currently completely out of control. Our leaders have as little clue as to what happens next as they did in the early days of the BP disaster. When the time comes, they’ll just shift the goalposts like Cockburn recounts in his Chernobyl story.

I’ve thought for a long time that nuclear energy just does not add up. The risks are too great to justify the rewards. There are better choices emerging in the alternative energy sector. If you’re a proponent of the technology, please take a moment to reconsider. Because that stuff’s gonna come down on you sooner or later.

Ain’t it a shame, about the radium rain?
Read More→