Friday, February 18, 2005

 

On the Subject of Pollution

Regular readers no doubt have gotten the impression that I think much of what passes as environmental concern today is really disguised self-interest, and often bad science. That does not mean; however, that I do not think there are some environmental concerns that do need attention, though not generally regulatory attention.

One thing that really needs attention is nuclear pollution. This story is on the forefront with issue of nuclear proliferation rising in both North Korea and Iran.

Nuclear power generation is not that big a concern to me. When small countries use nuclear power, they general buy the plants from sophisticated nations that make sure it gets done right. That is not true with nuclear weapons though, nobody is talking to anybody else in that field.

The United States has far and away been the most environmentally conscious nation when it comes to the development, construction, and storage of nuclear weapons, and weapon fuel. Generally our allied nuclear powers have exercised similar caution. Though even we have had our issues.

Our nearest competitors, the Sovs...well, if Chernobyl happened in their nuclear power industry, can you imagine what their weapons industry was like? I'd give you a link but most of what I can find in English is of the breathless Greenpeace kind and not worth the read. The head of the Russian State EPA equivalent, Alexi Yablakov, once told me that there were many sites in less populated areas of Russia far worse than Chernobyl.

If the Sovs were doing this sort of thing, what is happening in nations like Iran and North Korea with even less resources? Nuclear safety and pollution prevention/abatement costs BIG money, and these guys just don't have it.

There are a lot of reasons to be against nuclear weapons proliferation, some of them more important than this. But even if nuclear weapons are never used again in anger on the planet, their continued development by less wealthy nations, trying to work in secret, poses a huge environmental risk.

Just something to think about.

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