A seismic moment

Great news for the nuclear industry and indeed for the world: George Monbiot has “altered” his stance on nuclear power and is now in favour of it, rather than being non-committal. In a magnificently self-regarding piece for the Grauniad yesterday he pointed out what most of the rest of us have been arguing for years – that nuclear power is a lot safer (and greener) than almost all other forms of energy production, including bloody wind turbines. It took an earthquake and a tsunami to convince him of this. He has not yet, sadly, reached the conclusion that wind turbines are about as much use as Anne Frank’s drum kit. Give it time.

There are a few lessons to be learned from Japan, mind – the obvious ones, I suppose.

1)    Never trust a thing told to you by a large corporation.
2)    Never trust a thing told to you by your government.
3)    Never, ever, trust anything told to you by an “expert” being interviewed on a rolling news channel.

One incidental aside: the western reporters were full of admiration for the stoicism and containment of the Japanese people, the orderly queues, the lack of hysteria, the reluctance to ask for help. Quite right. But wasn’t it precisely the same trait which exacerbated the situation at the reactors in the first place – ie, a refusal to ask for help, continued assurances that everything was fine and so on?