Neil Craig, Woodlands Road, Glasgow.WE see the “environmentalists” are eager to talk about the Japanese catastrophe.
Not the earthquake and tsunami which has killed more than 2,000 people, probably far more, but the consequent failure of two reactors which have caused neither death not injury to anybody.
This disproportionate coverage of anything with the magic word “nuclear” is normal across our media.
For example, compare the coverage of Chernobyl, where a total of 56 people died with that of the Ufa train disaster also in the dying days of the USSR, where over 500 people died.
Both were equally the result of incompetent management, but the latter, though 10 times worse, was never “newsworthy” because no nuclear “black magic” was involved.
The fact is that nuclear power safer than any other comparable industrial process.
For example, in the last 20 years, two people have died in one nuclear accident in an industry that produces 20 per cent of the world’s electricity, whereas over 50 have died falling from wind turbines, in a subsidy driven “industry” that produces under 0.1 per cent.
I don’t know if the earthquake has caused any Japanese windmills to fail – because I do know that if it has happened it would not be “newsworthy.”
What the anti-technology crowd won’t say is that, when disasters strike, far and away the most important factor in saving lives is having an advanced technology.
If the “greens” really cared about human wellbeing they would enthusiastically support every instance of human progress, including more (CO2 free) nuclear power.
