Robert Stone’s documentary, Pandora’ s Promise, offers an off-the-mainstream take on nuclear energy and its potential for sustainability. Its association with disaster and peril is largely attributed by its inception into the world as the atomic bomb- the very picture of mankind’s most perilous concept ever brought to fruition. The phrase “nuclear project” often brings to mind events such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Chernobyl, and Three Mile, among others. However, as the documentary points out, these disasters have overshadowed the successes and potential seen in other aspects of nuclear usage, like the USS Nautilus and traveling wave reactor (TWR).

Stone and fellow converted pro-nuclear environmentalists do a thorough job sifting through popular belief to reinforce the potential in nuclear energy. A topic in the movie which seemed especially pertinent to me concerns the USS Nautilus and its Light Water Reactor (LWR) power source. While, yes, this ship was built with commercial purposes (to control Europe’s nuclear market) and the contemporaneous “Atoms For Peace” plan has generated for waste than anticipated, it has opened the door to enhanced procedural mechanisms for nuclear plants. Precautionary cooling systems and containment buildings have become staple implementations which the world did not have during the disaster at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.

The key to an objective analysis of society’s relationship with nuclear sustainability requires that society know that energy must come from somewhere, whether it be coal, oil, gas, or any other various possibility yet to be discovered. When presenting the case for or against nuclear energy it must be directly relative to its alternatives– all of which are far from ideal long term solutions currently. Robert Stone keenly makes this distinction throughout his documentary. He explains that although nuclear is expensive, financial costs are no longer able to be the primary concern as the environment continues to take a growing toll. Its not perfect, but neither are the alternatives in gas, oil, or coal. A “comparative absolutism” perspective should circumvent the nuclear debate, as we must make progress forward in steady, linear increments nonetheless.

Despite the difficult path to a perfect energy source, Pandora’s Promise reminds us not to discount nuclear energy’s great potential and to look beyond its common perception of terror and instead of hope. As Stone has asserted in light of the documentary, “Can you be an environmentalist and pro-nuclear?…In light of climate change, can you be an environmentalist and not be pro-nuclear?” This sentiment provides the debate’s required essence and mindset making progressive steps forward.