Nuclear power is by far the safest, cleanest, and most economical form of large scale energy production available today, yet it has been foolishly rejected in the United States due to abysmal ignorance. Dr. Bernard L. Cohen has devoted a good portion of his illustrious career to fighting this ignorance. With his permission, I have reproduced a few of his articles below. But first read Some Amazing Facts about Nuclear Power.
The US nuclear industry was poised for a comeback before the Japanese earthquake and tsunami caused major problems at their nuclear power plants. But those problems have been grossly exaggerated by the media, which has completely failed, as usual, to put the situation into proper perspective.
So far, the death toll due to radiation from the Japanese nuclear plants is zero, compared to tens of thousands of fatalities due to the earthquake and tsunami, yet the nuclear plants have received far more coverage than the incredible havoc that was caused directly by the earthquake and tsunami.
More importantly, the media completely ignores the fact that far more people have died from coal-fired pollution than from the Japanese nuclear plants even since the earthquake occurred. Major government studies have estimated that approximately 10,000 to 50,000 people die each year in the US due to pollution from coal-fired power plants, but for some reason the media never mentions these deaths.
Bernard L. Cohen is Professor-Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy and of Environmental and Occupational Health at University of Pittsburgh. He has authored 6 books, over 300 papers in scientific journals, and about 75 articles in non-technical journals. He has presented invited lectures in 47 U.S. States, 6 Canadian provinces, 7 Japanese prefectures, 6 Australian states and territories, and 24 other countries in Europe, Asia and South America. His awards include the American Physical Society Bonner Prize and the Health Physics Society Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award. He has been elected Chairman of the Division of Nuclear Physics of the American Physical Society, and Chairman of the Division of Environmental Sciences of the American Nuclear Society.
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