Why is it...., Part 2

["Westerdale, Bob" <bwesterdale@edax.com>]

While getting my daily dose of News on CNN et al, I 've noticed the past few

days 

have once again taken a turn towards the possibility of an airliner hitting

a Nuclear 

Power Plant.   OK, fine, it's a possibility.  The news shows open with some

scary stuff

about hellfire and brimstone, then they trot out the 'experts' to comment on

the prearranged conclusion that the plane will destroy the containment and

the resulting mess will force 

most of the US population to relocate to Antarctica.  One would like to

assume in these prearranged TV 'debates' that both sides would be fairly

represented.  One guy who would say the Plant will be completely shredded,

and the other will say the plane will bounce off. What concerns me is that

the Anti-Nuke pundits seem very well prepared, well rehearsed, and able to

strike fear in the hearts of the viewers.  On the other side,  The Pro-Nuke

guy is unprepared, speaks poorly, looks like Mom dressed him,  and does a

really dismal job of presenting the case for minimal consequences in an

attack.  This is not to imply that he is uninformed or unintelligent- merely

that he has lost the debate because he didn't have the same presentation

skills and 'charm'.



	1.	Has the media biased this discussion towards the death and

destruction scenario 

		in the interest of network ratings?    Is there really a

shortage of well spoken,

		highly regarded, interesting( i.e. TV-personable ) Nuclear

power proponents?



	2.	If everyone is so concerned about what will happen if a

plane hits a power plant, 

		why don't we try it?  I'm sure there are enough retired

jumbos that could be 				retrofitted with remote

control,   and I imagine there is a retired, de-fueled nuke

plant somewhere  that could be the safely impacted.  Of course there is

considerable

		peril in doing a real world test,  but this is an important

decision:  Do we continue 		live in blind fear of an attack, or

do we try to discover whether the fears are 

		warranted?  IF the plane wrecks the containment, well, we're

in for some changes, and 		if it emerges unscathed, the

'Chicken Little's' of the world will have to find

something else to pursue.  



	I understand that this is not by any means a trivial matter, and

that I have oversimplified  things in a most sweeping manner. However, I do

not look forward to spending the rest of my life worrying about planes

hitting powerplants.  Lets find out.            

Bob Westerdale 

( submitted with sincere apologies to any as yet undiscovered,

media-acceptable ProNuke newscasters..)

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