The letter, from Joe Sheridan in Siletz, Oregon, went on to remind readers that there are over 100 fuel rods in every fuel bundle and dozens of bundles in every reactor core. So, why would anyone putting together an energy plan focus more on nuclear power and less on other sources, including natural gas and coal gasification. I agree that we should use domestic resources to meet our energy needs whenever possible, and that it is very desirable to curb our dependence on foreign oil. Even so, nuclear power proliferation is not the way to go. Just one accident could render large areas of land unusable and could endanger thousands of people.
Nuclear power comes at too high a cost, even though it appears to be a clean fuel.
That appearance is misleading. Perhaps one nuclear power plant can be safely run, when management watches carefully and hand picks the people who will guard their safety and ours. Even one or two employees who don t really care about safety, or who may slip through personnel screening, and who carry out their jobs in a slipshod way, could then cause dangers that none of us need to face. For the distant future, continued research into solar power can help us handle growing energy requirements. For now, natural gas and clean-coal technologies can provide the domestic energy production that we need.