Jello lurks beneath the world’s nuclear power plants

Fast-rising oil prices and greenhouse gas emissions have reignited the debate over nuclear power. Some claim this type of energy is clean and safe; others argue that going nuclear is not the great green hope.  

KOICHI KAMOSHIDA/Getty Images News

On Monday, Mother Nature scored a point for the skeptics. An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 hit the coast of central Japan caused some leaks in the nuclear power plant near the city of Kashiwazaki. The Tokyo Electric Power Company told the BBC on Monday that “the small amount of radioactive material that leaked into the sea posed no environmental risk.” The New York Times reports that this “small amount” was “317 gallons of water containing trace levels of radioactive materials.”

This isn’t the first time Japan has had problems with nukes, the BBC article notes:

The safety of Japan’s nuclear installations, which supply much of Japan’s power, have come under the spotlight in recent years after a string of accidents and mishaps.

But if Japan’s jitters are enough to make us fret, what about Pakistan? President Musharraf’s rule is not the only shaky thing in the country. Sitting right on top of the rift  between the Asian continent and the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan is one of the hottest seismological spots in the world. The latest brutal evidence of this came in in October of 2005, when an earthquake of magnitude 7.6 killed more than 86,000 people. 

Japan’s sophisticated reactors shut down during Monday’s earthquake, but I have my doubts that the same would have happened in Pakistan. Or consider Iran, where the same crowd that was responsible for Chernobyl is running the show. Are we sure nuclear energy is the best energy solution for developing countries?