Guest Editorial by Wolfgang Mack,

OK, here we go, Wolfgang Mack, is David Mack's father. David is Amanda Butcher's husband. Bill Butcher is my sailing buddy. Wolfgang wrote the following letter to the Seattle Times. Lord Kadizzle strongly agrees with the entire letter, except as you might expect his lordship is not a McCain fan. Although McCain is right on this one.

John McCain's courageous advocacy for nuclear power (Seattle Times, May
14 2008) ran into the usual barrage of opposition, based on the
prejudice against anything "nuclear". The fact is that here in the
United States we are operating almost 100 nuclear power plants with a
remarkable safety record over the last 30 years, not to mention the
hundreds of nuclear power plants in the rest of the world. Even the
much heralded Three Mile Island accident has not cost one single life,
and in the more than three decades since its occurrence, we yet have to
detect any adverse health consequences. Sure, there was Chernobyl but
that accident was more a failure of the Soviet system, not something
inherent in nuclear power generation.
The critics say that nuclear power plants are too expensive and take
too much time to build. Let's face it: the cost of nuclear power plants
has been inflated largely by inordinate construction delays caused by
unrelenting "interveners" who simply object to nuclear power without
regard to the facts. And in the shop-worn argument about nuclear waste
disposal we should not confuse radioactive waste from nuclear weapons
plants (high level waste, like from Hanford)
with low level wastes from nuclear power plants. These have been
dealt with safely all over the world for decades with well proven
disposal techniques.
Is nuclear power entirely risk-free? Of course not, but in comparison
with other ways of electric power generation, it is remarkably safe. In
assessing nuclear risks, we forget the huge cost in human health and
lives of coal mining, the economic and political disaster of our oil
dependency, and the grave carbon dioxide
("greenhouse") pollution. Balancing our needs for energy and the
associated cost leads to non-carbon technologies. Nuclear is perhaps
the most realistic solution.


Wolfgang Mack
1301 Spring Street
Seattle WA 98104