Pandora’s Promise

Introduction

I think this movie is an excellent production to enlighten today’s citizens on the realities of nuclear power. It is designed to dispel the shadow left by the generation of anti-nuclear activism, and put the benefits of nuclear power into perspective. They make the argument even stronger by having previous anti-nuclear environmentalists preach this message, and admit to their faults in opposing nuclear power. Their argument is strong because they systematically address the concerns of anti-nuclear advocates, and then clearly explain why their concerns are either no longer legitimate, or are extremely outweighed by the benefits of nuclear power. These concerns could be categorized into three topics: Operation safety, radiation, and environmental damage.

Operations Safety

The movie first described Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, and what exactly went wrong. They admitted to the magnitude of these accidents, but then explained why they would not occur again. Chernobyl was an unsafe, and uncontained reactor, and its meltdown was caused by negligence. Three mile island was caused by operators not following proper procedure. These were both significant accidents, but they argue that our lesson is learned, and technology has now made for much safer operations. Nuclear reactors like the one in Chernobyl are not used, and there is always sufficient containment. In addition, they also prove that we now have fail safe reactors, which automatically shut down if they get too hot, so meltdowns can not be repeated.

Radiation

The movie also addresses people’s deep fear of radiation exposure by having nuclear reactors in operation. They enlighten people on the subject by explaining that just about all things on earth emit small amounts of radiation, and that humans are not harmed by small quantities. They visit various places where people live and measure radiation there, and they show that radiation around a nuclear plant, or contained nuclear waste is the same amount of radiation in a normal US city. Indeed, they even show places where natural radiation is much higher than the normal measure, simply because of their elevation, and closer proximity to cosmic radiation. This shows that normal operations of nuclear plants have absolutely no negative externalities.

Environmental Damage

They also recall how in the 60’s and 70’s, being an environmentalist was synonymous to being anti-nuclear. Activists feared radiation emissions (which has already been adressed) and the problem of nuclear waste. They address the nuclear waste problem by showing that proper storage is completely safe, and that technology is allowing for the use of a breeder reactor instead of a light water reactor. Breeder reactors can recycle and reuse plutonium fuel many times over, significantly reducing the amount of waste produced.

Their second argument is that environmentalists have been unrealistic about the growth of solar ad wind power. It is simply too expensive, and is intermittent power, which would require fossil fuel backups. Greenhouse cas emissions cannot continue, and they bring up the reality that singles out nuclear as the only power that can complete with fossil fuels. Alongside this fact,  it also releases even less CO2 than the production of solar panels. As a success story, they look to france who went nuclear in the 70’s, and now enjoy vast amounts of cheap energy with half the emissions per capita than that of Germany, who strives to go solar. With all these benefits to nuclear, the movie brings to our attention that we already have a solution to clean energy, and all we need to do is unite as a planet and invest in it.