Living in the shadow of a nuclear power plant

This past week I glanced at an article in a local paper which displayed pictures of crazy malformed vegetables. Then a friend pulled out an ear of corn from her freezer which had two ears growing from the same stem and made the comment that in all of her 80+ years she had never seen such a thing. In fact, neither have I. I quickly teased that it was from the years of radiation leaks from the power plant that made dysfunctional corn grow. Quite honestly, it could have been the wet season last year and the abundant rain this year. As my grandma always said, you are more likely to find a four leaf clover during a wet season, indicating that the extra leaf was caused by excess rain. I really don’t know.

When I sit upon my deck and look to the south I can tell which direction the wind is blowing by the direction of the steam clouds which hover over the towers. Living in the shadow of a nuclear power plant has not caused me any need for concern until recently when several hundred fish died suddenly in the local river from an unknown cause. (Rockford Register Star, 2010) Having driven by the spot in the river where the warm water from the plant runs in during the winter, I wonder if there may be some kind of connection.

While we are assured that the power plant is safe and that the utility takes measures to insure safety, I am feeling a little unsettled when I remember a friend, who formerly worked in the plant, now literally “glows in the dark”. Some episodes from the popular television cartoon series “The Simpsons” poke fun at malformed fish and glowing objects because of the fictional power plant that Homer Simpson works in.

And what about the nuclear waste these power plants produce? The material glows for years. How safe is that anyway?

Is there a safer, more economical solution out there to power our homes and our lives? The race is on to reduce emissions and pollution to save our planet. The auto industry has been the primary target of this for years. Our power plants have reduced the use of coal. We are implementing the burning off of emissions from our garbage dumps to create power. Some of the larger farming operations use a digester in their pits to help compress the methane gas to create energy and wind farms are popping up all across the county.

100 years ago Nikola Tesla, worked intently on giving us other sources to generate electricity. His ground laying work gave us the knowledge for creating microwaves and lasers. In fact, many of his ideas have lead to a great deal of today’s technology. Today, more than ever, Follow me as I investigate electricity and alternative resources to generate power.

we have the tools necessary to create a free ample supply of electricity to power our lives.

References:

Unknown, (2010, January 2, 2010). Cause of fish kill still under investigation. Rockford Register Star, The (IL)