You know, I knew that but totally forgot. Thanks for the reminder. This is a cool article about his experience, particularly in a nuclear cleanup. This part is particularly interesting, considering his long life. “They let us get probably a thousand times more radiation than they would now. It was in the early stages and they didn’t know.” Even a thousand times more than the maximum today isn’t even as harmful as most think.

This is also an interesting insight into how his views changed.

“My sense is that up until that point in his career, (Carter) had approached nuclear energy and nuclear physics in a very scientific and dispassionate way,” he told me in a separate interview.

“The Chalk River experience made him realize the awesome and potentially very destructive power he was dealing with. It gave him a true respect for both the benefits but also the devastatingly destructive effect nuclear energy could have. I believe this emotional recognition of the true nature of the power mankind had unleashed informed his decisions as president, not just in terms of having his finger on the nuclear button, but in his decision not to pursue the development of the neutron bomb as a weapon.”

He was originally interested in the technology through reason, but he became opposed through emotion.

However, he’s not an expert. Admittedly, this is a biased source, but there’s no chance he was actually educated on nuclear reactor operations, at least prior to becoming president. He was more knowledgeable than others at the time, who could barely know anything on the subject, but he couldn’t have known how they actually operate.

I don’t disagree he probably has more knowledge on it than both of us combined, but I don’t claim knowledge on it. I claim knowledge of what experts say, and they all say it’s the safest source of energy we have. They say it does have some risks associated with it, but so does everything. There is a near zero risk for meltdown of modern reactors, and even if one were to happen it’s extremely unlikely to cause serious damage.

For example, the thing that caused the most damage with Fukushima was the evacuation, not the actual radioactive waste. They evecuated areas that didn’t need to be and probably caused more harm than they prevented. If they took a measured response, fewer people would have been harmed and less damage would have been done.

Give a counter-argument of why we shouldn’t at least consider utilizing nuclear energy in places where it makes sense?

Edit: Also, for reference, I live very close to probably the largest concentration of nuclear reactors in the world. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard. I haven’t been worried about it for a single second of my life. There have been no accidents, as far as I’m aware, and they’re very safe. There’s a reason the navy makes such good use of them, even on vehicles designed to be under attack.