Preachy McPreacherson

It seems clear to me that the dangers clearly outweigh the benefits, so why are we still using nuclear energy?

I just read Encounters with the Archdruid, a book about David Brower, former president of the Sierra Club, visiting potential project sites with his enemies: a geologist, a developer, and the Commissioner of Reclamation.  Each part/project had pros and cons but Floyd Dominy made some serious sense to me when he said:

"Hydroelectric power doesn't pollute water and it doesn't pollute air."

It does destroy habitats and some wildlife and drastically changes its environment.  I don't think it is always the best option but compared to nuclear power, I'd prefer a dam.  Where the hell are the wind turbines and solar panels?  In the 1950s they didn't know about the radiation but we sure do now.  There is no good place to store waste as I keep learning out here.  Waste buried and bombs detonated underground left radiation.  I met a guy from Fallon who said he was allergic to dirt.  You're not allergic to dirt, my dear, you're allergic to what's in it.

Not to be a doomsday prophet, but doesn't it seem like weather events are getting stronger?  Isn't that the prediction?  Here's my really preachy sentence: Maybe Mother Nature is trying to wipe this plague of people off the planet.  Nature gives us the most beautiful things and we are so often undeserving.  I watched Pit Boss last night and was horrified again by stupid irresponsible breeders who think only of money and not where these animals are going to end up.  Yesterday on my walk with Jody out at Rattlesnake Mountain where the wild horses live I saw a foal and its mother separated by a barbed wire fence.  I felt so frustrated and worried and I didn't want to leave.  Thankfully there was this couple out driving around looking at the horses and saw the situation.  The wife went home to grab pliers and the guy stayed put to monitor things.  I hope he cut many, many holes in that fence.

I feel horrible for the people in Japan who had only minutes of warning before the tsunami hit.  Did you see how well their buildings withstood an 8.9 earthquake?  If that had been Turkey, forget it.  Japan was so well equipped to handle earthquakes.  After two and half days of watching the news, I've only seen one collapsed building from the earthquake.  There was damage, of course, but how unfair is it to survive an 8.9 earthquake relatively intact only to suffer a giant tsunami?  How the hell do you prepare for that?

But why do we have nuclear power plants in the Ring of Fire!?  I hope this situation changes our view about the safety of nuclear energy.