Nuclear Terror, ©2026 William L. Brown.
March 28 marks forty-seven years since the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US.
I’m on the mailing list of an anti-nuke group commemorating that anniversary, protesting the Trump administration’s “Nuclear Renaissance” plan to build more nuclear power plants.
Their announcement failed to mention some other relevant anniversaries which, I thought, made additional compelling points.
I present them here. This article is based on a couple of letters to the editor I sent this week to newspapers in New Hampshire where the NH Republican governor is pushing for more nuclear power. This is a bit off the usual topic, I realize, and some of my readers and friends may not agree with me on this issue. I hope they at least give credence to the concerns raised about long-term planning in the face of world instability.
Four years ago in early March Russia attacked and occupied two Ukrainian nuclear power facilities. One of them was the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. April 26 marks the fortieth year since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, the worst nuclear energy accident in history.
Russia also attacked and occupied the Zaphorizha Nuclear Power Plant. They damaged it, occupied it, forced the operating staff to work for them, and threatened to destroy it. These actions could result in massive destruction and the release of deadly nuclear radiation capable of contaminating the region, and any place around the globe that air and water currents take it. Chernobyl radiation got into soil, food and water as far away as the US. The Russians are using this threat as a bargaining chip.
Nuke Trigger, ©2022 William L. Brown.
Note that the Ukrainian power plants were built by Russia, which now threatens them. The builders could not imagine such a situation. The situations we can’t imagine now for American nuclear power plants in the future are infinite. Who wants to live near or downstream from a such a potential target?
After the last decade does anyone think US will be safe from terror attacks or that world stability can be maintained for hundreds of years? For the next three years?
Proponents say new technology makes nuclear plants safer. There will never be another Chernobyl, Three Mile Island or Fukushima accident.
Maybe, but new technology can’t prevent terrorist attacks. It can’t prevent change and instability for centuries. That’s how long radioactive contamination lingers. A gas, coal, solar or other type of plant could be the subject of a terror attack, but none have this long-lasting threat.
Nuclear safety requires more than good technology, it requires stable governments, infrastructure, and world order. These do not exist.
Look at the seventy years since nuclear power plants were first built. A superpower collapsed, its nuclear power plants were suddenly in different countries. Around the world new countries and governments emerged, wars broke out, new dictators took power, violent terrorist groups formed, and the old world order crumbled.
This month, the US attacked Iran, source of terrorism and drone weapons. So far, Iran has not surrendered. It has struck back. Apparently the US failed to correctly assess Iran’s resilience and drone capacity. Have they correctly assessed Iran’s ability to stage terror attacks on US soil?
Last week Iran targeted a nuclear facility in Israel, a terrorist act. As long as Iran keeps lobbing drones and missiles around the region, that threat remains.
America may not be suffering any attacks or violent domestic disturbances now, but experience shows that can change in a heart-beat. The current president’s aim is to shed America’s role as leader of the free world, and take on a new “multi-polar” world order in which might makes right and our only interest is financial. The US is posturing as strong, but in fact it is weakened. This can be seen in Iran. Trump expected to win a war in a few days without allies and without a solid plan. He failed. How long before a counter attack on US soil?
It isn’t just the danger of accidents or terrorist incidents, there is also radioactive waste disposal. Waste must be safely transported, stored, and left undisturbed for centuries. Again, looking at the changes of the last 70 years there is no realistic safety guarantee.
Four years ago Russian troops seized Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear complex. In 1986 the plant and surrounding region were contaminated in the world’s worst nuclear accident. Despite warning signs, Russian soldiers dug trenches in 2022 and raised road dust. They were there less than a month but had to be treated for radiation sickness. At least one died.
Humans can’t even learn not to mess with a contaminated site within living memory of a world-famous disaster there. What hope is there that they leave waste sites undisturbed for several generations?
In a world with constant unpredictable change, there can be no guarantee of nuclear power safety. It would be much wiser to invest in less dangerous power sources.
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