The recent commentary by Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols defending conduct of the PSC against criticism from left-leaning critics who have been quote “loud and proud” against nuclear energy is misleading. Commissioner Echols suggests electric rates in Georgia, which include the cost of nuclear power projects ,are about 14 percent below the national average. This does not represent the true cost of nuclear power. The true cost is reflected only when you include catastrophic incidents like the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi meltdown event in Japan, the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine, and the 1979 Three Mile Island meltdown at Harrisburg, Pa., in the U.S.

The public cost of these events is incalculable. In two of the incidents, thousands of square miles of land have been rendered uninhabitable for generations. Millions of people have been permanently displaced, and over a thousand lives lost. Entire cities have been abandoned. The scope of potential damage is almost unlimited. Radioactive debris from the Fukushima incident has washed up on beaches of the U.S. Pacific Coast over 8,000 nautical miles away.

Commissioner Echols wants you to think the cost of nuclear power is contained only in the rate of your electric bill. He says “Carbon-free nuclear energy is the answer” to your future power needs. Don’t be fooled. There are safer options, and you should not be handed the bill for cynical decisions made by the PSC that amount to playing Russian roulette with your future. Nuclear energy is a dangerous servant under the best conditions and a fearful master when something goes wrong.

It seems to me the tone of Mr. Echols’ letter suggests his job is to manage and manipulate the collective position of the public rather than regulate the utility industry. That is certainly how the establishment would prefer things to be. It is well documented that over time, regulatory agencies become entrapped and ultimately controlled by the corporations they were intended to regulate. Thus the regulatory agency does the bidding of the corporation instead of the other way around. The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the airline industry. is an example of this phenomenon. In aviation, there is an old saying that rules and regulations are written in the blood of crash victims. Should we think nuclear power is any different?

In the aftermath of Three Mile Island, Fukushima, Chernobyl and the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, follow-up investigations indicate the design of complex systems and individual components can frequently contain hidden flaws, technical discipline of plant operators is often slack, reliability of critical equipment is questionable, and the technology for cleanup and remediation of industrial accidents remains frozen in the 1950s and is largely ineffective. Under this reality, the people of Japan and Ukraine have paid a heavy price.

You don’t have to. When it comes to your safety and our future, you don’t have to trust a bureaucrat selling you a false sense of security with a promise of cheap electric rates and “safe” nuclear power.

Bruce Vandiver
Lula

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