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The Forum > Article Comments > The nuclear sword of Damocles > Comments

The nuclear sword of Damocles : Comments

By Evaggelos Vallianatos, published 20/10/2008

To avoid a global nuclear meltdown, we must abolish all that has to do with the smashing of the atom.

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I think you'll find that it will be near impossible to do without nuclear electricity and there will be a mad scramble to build new reactors. Other key nuclear needs are medical isotopes and cheap smoke alarms. Maybe the genie is out of the bottle with nuclear weapons but hopefully Australia can continue to use its influence to discourage further weapons proliferation. Having already said no to India and Russia it should be clear that future buyers of unenriched uranium must stick scrupulously to civilian applications or face embargoes.

My view on long term waste storage is that the material comes out of holes in the ground in the outback and that is where it should return. Even though the material may be 'hotter' thankfully the volumes are quite small. It would be nice if people were as equally concerned about pollution including radioactivity from burning coal.
Posted by Taswegian, Monday, 20 October 2008 8:53:49 AM
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Whilst I suspect the geni may well and truly be out of the bottle it does beggar belief that the myth that nuclear will be the solution to our energy needs is continuing to be perpetuated. It makes little economic sense to invest in nuclear power plants when those plants will probably have a working life of about a decade. The reason? Known world reserves of uranium will last the world at current rate of consumption about 40 years.
How can we stop the nuclear industry in its tracks? Perhaps if each company involved in the industry was required to indemnify workers and the community from any adverse health effects.
True the nuclear industry is putting in more and more safeguards but until it can demonstrate it is Homer Simpson proof we are better off without it.
Posted by BAYGON, Monday, 20 October 2008 10:24:43 AM
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To me, the worst aspect of the "nuclear debate" is simply the lying that goes on.
So many lies - which are the worst?
The most dangerous lie is probably the lie that nuclear weapons are a "defense".
In fact, if some country, or some terrorist unleashes nuclear weapons on another country - the result will be a "nuclear winter" which will affect both countries. To respond with a nuclear bombing will not repair the damage, simply increase it.
Similar lies surround the use of "depleted uranium" weapons. They harm not only the "enemy" but also civilians, and the soldiers who use them.
There are well-known lies, e.g. nuclear power as a solution to global warming, nuclear energy as "clean', "effective" - and, biggest laugh of all, - "cheap".
The biggest lie is perpetrated by every country that seeks nuclear power - that it is for "peaceful purposes". That claim is rubbish, and we all know this. Christina Macpherson www.antinuclear.net
Posted by ChristinaMac, Monday, 20 October 2008 10:25:24 AM
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The drive to outlaw nuclear weaponry and nuclear development is only part of the problem. We need to eliminate war. The problem has become more difficult since non-national entities by use of nuclear weaponry can also make war. Perhaps nuclear weaponry will be the salvation of the earth. If nuclear weaponry destroys the human race but does not destroy all life the rest of the planet can recover as it did 65,000,000 years ago when the dinosaurs were eliminated. The planet will recover from our rape. Perhaps no life form with the capability of making nuclear weapons or the intolerance promoted by the belief that a group has a truth denied to other groups of the same species will evolve. There is always hope.
Posted by david f, Monday, 20 October 2008 10:39:22 AM
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Interesting that the author studied in the US, then spent years working for the US Government including Congress http://www.vallianatos.com/?page_id=3 and he remains there. Denial of his American nationality flows through to what he writes. This "Greek" bites the country that feeds him with an extrordinary passion born of guilt.

1. He starts with Hiroshima-Nagasaki - which of course any Japanese knows was the only thing that happened in WWII. Denial - written out of Japanese text books - that Japan started the Asian War in 1931 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Manchuria and murdered more than 30 million Asian people up to August 1945.

After adding 40 million killed by the Gemans, my point is its surprising how efficiently people can kill people WITHOUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

2. The author is aware that the US and Germans had nuclear progams. What the Mayor of Hiroshima didn't tell him is that JAPAN ALSO HAD A NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM.

In October 1940, Lt. General Takeo Yasuda of the Japanese army decided that a nuclear weapon was feasible and practical, and the Japanese program started in July 1941.

The Japanese atomic program financed by the military was actually undertaken by Dr. Yoshio Nishina, a leading nuclear physicist at the Japan’s Institute for Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN) Laboritory in the Komagome district of Tokyo.

The Japanese built cyclotrons and five improved gaseous diffusion separators for uranium enrichment. The program's major source of uranium ore was Korea, but other sources included Burma and shipments by U-boat from France in 1944. Most famous of these was the failed voyage of U-234. U-234 was sent to Japan in April 1945 to deliver 560 kg of unprocessed Uranium oxide and several other advanced weapons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unterseeboot_234

Taswegian

I think the sale of uranium to India and Russia has only been held up temporarily to please the Labor Left. The financial meltdown will strengthen the hand of the uranium trade lobby.

Peter Coates
http://spyingbadthings.blogspot.com/
Posted by plantagenet, Monday, 20 October 2008 1:53:17 PM
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The reasons why nations go to war are many and varied. Historians may argue for centuries over the causes of a particular conflict. Both sides attempt to justify themselves on grounds of morality. This is not the forum to present the arguments for a “just war” or the “realist’s case” to protect the “national interest”.

I agree with Evaggelos Vallianatos all war is terrible. Recall the slaughter on the battle fields of the First World War. Wikipedia provides a list, all be it incomplete, of deaths attributed to armed conflict the numbers are incomprehensibly large.

I am not aware of any sane person that advocates war; nobody but a fool would do so. Yet it is clear that abhorrence of war is one thing; eliminating war (atomic or otherwise) from human conflict is well neigh impossible. One can only hope that international bodies such as Red Cross, UN, and International Court will mitigate against its worse effects.

As I understand it the author wants to stop the teaching of atomic theory in schools. Where will he start: with Greek philosophers such as Democritus, ancient Hindu texts, 11th century Islamic thinkers that tried to synthesis Hindu and Greek thinking? Perhaps the starting point will be 18th and 19th century chemists such as John Dalton? Then what will he do about electromagnetism and optical physics? Or will he stop with Madam Curie, Rutherford and Becquerel etc?

Vallianatos seems oblivious to the great contribution of nuclear methods to human health and welfare. No sensible person can argue that any of the following applications of radio isotope technology are bad: treatment and diagnosis of disease, laboratory assay, environmental science, and applications in civil industry, electricity generation and much more.

Then the author raises the canard of nuclear waste. The World Nuclear Association tells us how this can be managed, in fact gives list of countries that are taking practical action in this field. Vallianatos is entitled to his opinion. He is however obligated to provide factual and objectively documented reference to articles in professional scientific journals, to support his views
Posted by anti-green, Monday, 20 October 2008 3:44:12 PM
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