The Japanese are Playing with Fire: Restarting the Nuclear Plants

The Japanese I feel know how to shoot themselves in the foot. They did that when they attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. They have now commited another blunder in starting the nuclear energy generation plants.

The case of Japan is a little different from other countries. Firstly Japan is a country with a small land mass and secondly the island nation is subject to frequent earthquakes and sea storms and tsunamis. These are god given afflictions and they can play hell into the economy of a nation. Such natural disasters can also damage the most foolproof nuclear plants.

We saw this happening when the nuclear plant in north Japan was hit by a tsunami. A meltdown occurred and the entire area adjacent to the plant is riddled with high doses of radiation. The sad part is that due to the half life period of a nuclear reaction the effects of radiation last for a hundred years.

The Japanese people are apprehensive and have started an agitation against the nuclear power plants. But the government under pressure of the electricty companies have bent the rules to allow the reactors to go critical. This is indeed a sad story and one wonders what happens if a natural disaster hits a couple of nuclear power plants. What happens then?

What is happening in Japan is the ills of capitalism. No nuclear plant is safe despite whatever the experts say. With so many alternate sources of energy available, the decision of the Japanese government is fraught with grave risk. Its about time a revolution occurred in Japan against the nuclear plants.