• Tara Bozick •
• Originally published January 13, 2009 at 6:39 p.m., updated January 13, 2009 at 6:39 p.m.

Not unlike prior to construction of some existing industrial facilities, the "Prophets of Doom" (to coin a phrase) are active again. They contend that Victoria County does not want or need, a supposedly hazardous "Nuclear Installation." Nuclear systems are used in the military as well as in industrial applications. The reliability and safety aspects of nuclear proliferation are well established.

Fact: All fleet Naval aircraft carriers and all fleet submarines are nuclear. Twenty percent of electrical power generated in this country is nuclear. In France, the figure is 60 percent. Several other countries have nuclear installations.

Fact: One Russian nuclear operation had a meltdown with disastrous consequences. Two nuclear submarines, one Russian and one American, were lost at sea. Inferior design and construction were contributing factors in the Russian meltdown. The Russian submarine had a hot run (A torpedo explosion within an ejector tube) which blew the forward portion of the boat to splinters. Only Davey Jones (the mythical keeper of all souls lost at sea) knows what happened to the American boat (Read the book, "Blind Man's Bluff"). Having served aboard submarines in World War II, I am well aware of the many situations that may prove fatal aboard submarines.

Power generation comes from many sources. Each has direct, or indirect, limitations.

If you like coal, get ready for two coal trains of 150 car lengths in lieu of one train of 130 car lengths passing through Victoria each day. Subsurface coal mining kills hundreds of people each year. Open pit coal mines are dangerous, dirty and noisy. Almost all coal fired in boilers comes out the stack as fumes or gases, some toxic.

Mr. T. B. Pickens, once an outspoken proponent of wind power, said on television recently that is not a viable alternate, "It costs too much." While we consider natural gas a viable, safe and combustible source, it, too, has limitations. Like coal, it has exhaust problems. Drilling of oil and gas wells provides the most hazardous work conditions going (Out of sight, out of mind):

Consider combustion-related hazards close to home. Automobiles kill more than 40,000 people annually, and they maim many times that. All of the billions of gallons of gasoline burned in autos come out the exhaust as toxic vapors. Can't do without the auto? The Amish do quite well.

Some are concerned about a bit of new technology. My God! We sent people to the moon and back with technology. The standards for nuclear technology have become highly refined. Design and construction standards are beyond reproach. Additionally, the process for recovery of spent nuclear rods is in the development stage.

Nuclear energy is the cleanest source of water vapor-driven power generation known.

If and when built, the considered project will provide clean, safe and well-paying jobs for many.

There will be a line a city-block long waiting to apply for those jobs.

The probability is great, that, unless you are financially well-established, some of your extended family will be in that line.

Does Victoria need the proposed facility? You be the judge and help prove to the prophets who want to see the considered nuclear project go "Boom," as a balloon ascending into the air and disappearing forever, that they are once again wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

Walt Hranitzky is a resident of Victoria and a former submariner.

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