Radiation sickness kills. It has killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese. The dual bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed tens of thousands of people immediately. Many tens of thousands more died over the next year, skin and bones destroyed by radiation. In all, over 200,000 died from radiation sickness.

Radiation sickness lies waiting at the Catawba Nuclear Station on Lake Wylie. If there is an accident, how will you escape? Do you know your evacuation route? Who are you supposed to call in the unlikely case of a release of radiation? Do the police know how to handle this? Will they agree to stand and direct traffic while they watch the radioactive cloud float towards them? Will they abandon their post to gather up their families? What about the radio and TV? Will the reporters and crew stay to cover the story, or protect themselves and the ones they love most?

I suppose I would think this a stupid concern, except that history does seem to repeat. As we remember the sixtieth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we should also remember Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Detroit.

Detroit? I can almost hear the rise in the reader’s voice. Detroit? What is he talking about?

According to AtomicArchive.com, on October 5th, 1966, the core of an experimental reactor near Detroit, Mich., melted partially when a sodium cooling system failed. The site lists seventeen different reactor accidents over the years, including the best known cases. It also only lists accidents we know about. The accidents that went unreported in places like the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Israel, India, Pakistan and elsewhere…well, we may never know.

So, why does this matter now?

Duke Power and the Federal Government think that the Catawba reactors, your friendly neighborhood nuke plant, is the ideal location to experiment with untried nuclear fuel. This Frankenfuel, a sick mix of toxic uranium and designer grade plutonium, is being used today in the reactors, even though it’s never been used anywhere else on the entire globe. Blends of uranium and plutonium have been used before, but not the designer grade stuff from nuclear weapons waste.

The representatives from Duke have pointed out that they live near the reactor themselves. “Why would we put our own families at risk?” goes the reasoning. To be honest, I don’t take any comfort in that. Too many men, motivated by greed and avarice, have sent their sons into unsafe mines for profit. Too many daughters have been killed in factory fires because men locked the doors to the factory to keep the women at their tasks. Will people risk their own children and themselves for money and power? They have in the past, and are doing so even today. But remember, it’s not just their family at risk, but yours too.

So, back to the earlier question..if there is an accident, how will you escape? What is the evacuation route? Will you get your children from school, then head for the mountains? Or, should it be the coast? What about Grandad? Do we go to the nursing home and get him, or leave him?

Folks, I am an alarmist. I admit it. The chances are very, very, very slim. But it’s happened before. How will you react? Isn’t now the right time to think about these issues? Are there questions you have? Ask them. Call your city manager and ask for a map of the evacuation route. Call the county and ask them what provisions they have made for keeping police at their posts. Call Congressman Spratt and ask him why he has allowed you and your families to be guinea pigs for Duke profits.

And perhaps most importantly, ask yourself this question. If thousands of people with advanced degrees and billions of dollars to spend can’t keep the Space Shuttle from cracking apart on re-entry, what makes you think you should trust a profit making enterprise with your lives, and the lives of those you love?

And, why do you keep supporting those politicians and parties that stand always at the ready to apologize for the nuclear industry while sucking billions of tax dollars right out of your hip pocket? Isn’t it about time you and your family came first?