Building a Nuke Underwater?
Miami -- It is four weeks since April Fool's Day -- but foolishness is not confined, alas, to that one day a year. Here is a snippet from one of the stranger precincts of American politics and economics.
Climate scientists are quite certain that warmer temperatures mean higher sea levels. Even the climate-change deniers admit that it's getting warmer -- they're just not willing to admit why, or concede that it's a scary prospect. If you want a good reason to get worried, here's the latest from Florida, one of the states most threatened by rising sea levels.
Florida Power and Light wants to build not one, but two new nuclear reactors at its existing nuclear facility at Turkey Point. Turkey Point sits at one of the lowest elevations in the state of Florida -- it's literally a hop, skip, and a jump from the ocean, as you can see on this United States Geological Survey map.
Right now the existing nukes at Turkey Point are scheduled to be decommissioned in 2032. However, if new plants are built they will be operating until 2100, by which time the surrounding area will be underwater, according to most climate models. In fact, Turkey Point at best will be a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean long before its new reactors are scheduled to be shut down. The highest point on the plant's property is only 52 feet above current sea level, and the cooling canals surrounding it provide a magnificent conducting mechanism for hurricane surges.
You couldn't have a better formula for predictable disaster -- and, of course, like any nuke, this one would be built with your money and mine, just as your money and mine (or our children's) will have to pay for the cataclysm to come.
