I took part in a Gegen Atomkraftwerke demonstration last Monday and one friend of mine commented that the debate (in Europe) will not end - it's either 3 billion people die or people live without electricity for 6 months or so of their lives. I took it as a comment from an uninformed person.
Nuclear power is not the only energy choice in Europe. And especially here in Germany, who has the technology and the money to invest in safer energy sources such as wind and solar, you start wondering where it went wrong.
I am not an expert to the economics and politics of energy in Europe but the fact that a lot of money (profit) is being generated by the nuclear power plants here in Germany, that says a lot why it's an easy choice. What's frustrating is how money always seems to complicate decision making. As my friend and I said before, money is not evil but it is the root of all evil.
It had to take a nuclear power plant failure in a highly-technological country for people around the world to rethink their nuclear stance. I am sure nuclear power companies are now working overtime to salvage their "safe, low emission, cheap energy" image back. Who are they kidding? Someone should tell nuclear power companies stockholders to live and stay put within the limits of the 30KM exclusion zone in Fukushima and demonstrate personally that, hey, despite the failure of cooling systems, it is still safe, people can still live near a nuclear power plant which has been out of technical control for the past 6 days.
And that "higher than normal radiation levels that are not yet hazardous to health" are already detected in Tokyo, way beyond the 30KM exclusion zone, is something to be thought about. I already get enough radiation from the sun on a normal day, thank you very much.
And this thing about how "impossible" radiation will reach the Philippines - you just can't make press releases like that. For me, it is possible. My theory is - Japan lies at 34 degree North latitude or at least Fukushima and the Westerlies blow towards the east, but for the Philippines which lie at 13 degree North latitude, you have the North East trade winds, which blow towards west. And comes in the complications from the Hadley Cell and the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). As far as my understanding is concerned, part of the ITCZ actually is the Westerlies, which are produced by the Coriolis effect. Now, the Hadley Cell (which can be found in the area of Philippine latitude) actually makes it possible for the Westerlies and the Trade Winds to meet, thanks to the area of high pressure Subtropical High that the Hadley Cell gives birth to. So, in theory, it is very possible for the winds to bring them Japanese radiation to the Philippines. And in a day, "wind direction" can change from all over.
I still have yet to look up to how high the radioactive plume shot up into the atmosphere, because I think this is also an important part of the "nuclear fallout." I think it might have reached to the stratosphere because the area is now a no-fly zone. And I have to refresh my memory on the layers of the atmosphere and the winds etc etc. Don't believe all what I say, they are just what came to mind from what I've previously studied and I am now so itching to discuss this with my former atmosphere module professor.
I must call it a night. I hope for the best for Japan. I admire them in their discipline (no looting, patience, calmness in the midst of a tragedy) and I sincerely hope the world can learn from them not just on nuclear power but also on these admirable human traits that (I think, with my limited travel experience) can only be found in Japan.
