Nearly every online discussion of the ongoing catastrophe in Japan has focused on the danger of nuke plants in the face of unpredictable events like earthquakes. That is all well and good, and we would do well to recognize that seismology is a seriously inexact science, that will never give us precise predictions. But while industry hacks comb the internet arguing with those suggesting prudence, there are two related issues that I would hope do not get lost - issues that have nothing to do with technical details concerning the safety of plants in the face of natural disaster.
Both have to do with the fact that nuclear power is centralizing - indeed, the most centralizing form of energy there is. That is, it takes enormous capital investment to build, staff, protect, etc. a nuke plant. This means that it serves to concentrate economic power. (It also always strengthens the corporatist collaboration of government and big business.) And it centralizes the distribution of electric power: producing at a single spot and then transmitting via lines to others, which is inherently wasteful.
In addition to all the socio-economic effects of this centralization, there is the fact that such centralized power generation is an open invitation to military attack. Even if one hasn't the capability to breach containment with a bomb, reliance on nukes invites attacks that leave hundreds of thousands without power. Every nuke plant, that is, is a giant neon invitation to terrorists.
No technological tweaking is going to change any of this.
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