Sadly misguided op ed in the Burlington Free Press today. Mr. Al Blakley from Brattleboro writes in to berate and belittle those of us who want to see Vermont Yankee closed as planned.

Comparing our fear of leaking, mismanaged VY with the apparent hesitation expressed by some when electric power first became available at the turn of the century, he triumphantly declares, “in the entire 50-year history of commercial U.S. nuclear power plants, no-one has ever died from radiation. How much safer can you get?”

Claiming that, “The problem is that fearing something we do not understand is not a legitimate reason for removing that thing. The responsible action is to educate ourselves and argue facts (including thorough, prudent safeguards and protections), not imagined disasters”, Mr. Blakley goes on to decry our apparent unwillingness to “look at the facts [and] come to see there is not a lot to be afraid of with nuclear power”.

And that, of course, is his mistake right there. We’re horrified at the thought of VY continuing to operate precisely because we’ve looked at the facts and come to realize that there’s quite a lot to be afraid of with nuclear power as it’s irresponsibly produced by an outfit like Entergy.

Indeed, it is not fear of the unknown that drives us, it’s fear of the known — coupled with the potential consequences of the apparent state of denial suffered by the NRC and a subset of (perhaps tritium-laced?) Kool-Aid drinkers like Mr. Blakley.