Nuclear energy - safe?

[Ron Whitfield]

Re: Nuclear energy - safe?

It's all good, until suddenly it ain't.

[Amati]

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/b...118037754.html

President Barack Obama is defending nuclear power as an important source of energy in the U.S., even as new questions are raised about its safety following radiation leaks from an earthquake and tsunami-damaged nuclear plant in Japan.

"I've already instructed our nuclear regulatory agency to make sure that we take lessons learned from what's happened in Japan and that we are constantly upgrading how we approach our nuclear safety in this country," the president said on KOAT.

However, Obama said that all energy sources have downsides and none are foolproof. He said the U.S. learned that last summer during the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Are the massive risks associated with a nuclear accident just too high to justify building new nuclear power plants?

Can a horrendous oil spill that caused enormous economic and environmental damage be equated to a nuclear accident that could possibly kill 100,000s of people?

Is nuclear energy just too dangerous?