Newspaper: The Dickinsonian
Date: April 12, 1979
Article: say no to nukes
Author: Unknown

As a result of the Three Mile Island accident, a plethora of investigations into nuclear energy will be instituted and a national debate will ensue. While this debate is in progress, prudent action dictates a national moratorium on the licensing and building of nuclear power plants and, ultimately, the elimination of nuclear power from the energy mix of the nation.

Whether or not the odds of a nuclear accident are minute should not be the deciding factor in determining the future development of nuclear power as an alternative energy source. The all too familiar argument of pro-nuke forces of the limited possibility of disaster as based on safety systems and industry’s track record has only served to distract the public’s eye from the enormous consequences of a long-shot nuclear accident.

Let the public serve notice to energy policy makers that it will not subject itself to unnecessary psychological terror that is callously labeled by nuclear advocates as “an irrational fear that is unknown.” Let pregnant mothers, mothers and future mothers, fathers and future fathers came forth and serve notice to the nuclear power industry that they will not accept even the minutest odds of an accident if the disaster give birth to deformed or still-born children. Let concerned citizens inform promoters of nuclear energy that it will not tolerate unnecessary contamination of the air, water, land, milk and meat. Human life is infinitely more precious than nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy, in the final analysis, is not necessary. If the government spent as much tax revenue on financing alternative methods of energy production such as solar and coal gasification and liquification, nuclear power plants could be purged from the national landscape.

The lesson America can learn from Three Mile Island about nuclear energy is thankfully much less painful than it could have been. To continue to include nuclear energy in the energy mix of the nation would be a lesson unlearned, a lost opportunity to correct a mistake. With a unified, resolute voice say no to nuclear energy – for now, for the future, forever. To say yes would be a crime against ourselves, and our progeny.