I'm hearing a lot of talk from Conservatives on how Japan's nuclear power plant problems aren't really that bad and how it shouldn't stop America from moving forward with new nuclear power plants...while I totally concur with the latter sentiment, the former makes these Conservatives just look stupid
the problem with nuclear contamination is at least twofold: 1) receiving a fatal dose of radiation poisoning that results in a painful death (quickly or not) and 2) receiving contamination that sets you up for any number of cancers and other health problems in the future (near term or longer)
I've heard Conservative arguments like "more people have died in coal power plant accidents than nuclear power plant accidents", or "the 17 American service men contaminated by the nuclear plant steam release is just something that happens when one of the plants releases steam as a safety measure", and "the new technology nuclear plants aren't like Chernobyl - they have many safety mechanisms", and "the plant is not going to blow up like an atomic bomb"....there are many other such statements and ideas being thrown out there by Conservatives, but they all boil down to trying to minimize this event
look, if people are getting contaminated by any amount of radiation due to an accident like this, it is a disaster...what needs to get talked about in the news and by Conservatives is the reality and truth of what's going on...the 17 American service men got contaminated - well, HOW BAD was it?...give us the news in a format we can understand - was it like getting a chest x-ray, or was it like getting 10,000 chest x-rays?
I know that the anti-nuclear power crowd wants nothing more than to turn this into the reason that America can never build another nuclear power plant, but you don't fight them by hiding or denying the truth and reality of what is happening
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