Slaying the Nuclear Dragon
News: A combination of strong activism and bad economics has halted the building of reactors in the U.S. and Europe. Asia is a different story.
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In early 1976, as the global anti-nuclear movement first rumbled to the surface, Mother Jones published a truly terrifying piece of green prophecy in its inaugural issue.
"What You Don't Know May Hurt You," by Mother Jones co-founder Paul Jacobs, described shoddy construction, corrupt management, and inept operations at India's Tarapur reactor, where workers handled radioactive waste with bamboo poles-- literally. The surreal descriptions of dying locals, worried experts, and cynical exporters shook many of us who were just plunging into the movement against atomic power.
Now, after 20 years of buildup, protest, and meltdown, nuclear power has lost its allure in the U.S., and public attention has focused on the fallout--aging, unsafe plants and public outrage over waste storage. The industry's future is no longer in the U.S. or Western Europe, but rather precisely where Paul Jacobs identified it two decades ago: Asia.
