America Needs More Nuclear Power

         We are not Japan --- Our nuclear is safer and reduces foreign oil dependence

There is a story about a wealthy man who sought the world’s safest place in which to build his home, a place free from all dangers, natural and man-made. After expending a considerable sum researching such a location, he determined that a particular island in the South Atlantic fit the criteria.

The man spared no expense in constructing the most solid, fortified and beautiful home --- one that was virtually impregnable.

But after planning for all contingencies, something happened for which he had not accounted.

The man found himself directly in the line of fire --- of the Falkland Islands War.

The point? Life is full of risks, and despite some people’s naïve belief that risks are avoidable, they are not. Instead, our focus should be on mitigating those risks in common sense ways while still living in the real world.

But we don’t.

Already, we have heard the calls to reevaluate our nuclear power program (codespeak for phasing it out of existence) because of the situation in Japan. And God forbid that we should actually forge ahead with new nuclear plants, several of which have been recently approved. That would be dangerous and foolhardy, we are now told.

So let’s get that mentality straight. We should shelve nuclear expansion --- a virtually zero emission power source that significantly reduces reliance on foreign oil from hostile nations --- because of problems half a world away? Problems that directly resulted from Japan being front-and-center on the notorious Ring of Fire --- home to 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes and 75 percent of its volcanos. And problems that, for the most part, America doesn’t have, since almost none of the country sits on that Ring.

That’s not just naïve. That’s self-inflicted stupidity.

The United States has 104 nuclear plants in operation, accounting for 20 percent of our electricity consumption. It should be double that number, but for decades, leadership has been sorely lacking in both political Parties, and the American people are extremely short-sighted on all-things energy.

So now that we’re facing $4/gallon fuel --- with experts predicting $5 by next year , which significantly inflates the prices of almost everything due to increased transportation costs --- what are our options? We have none.

Our drills in the Gulf sit idle, Alaska is pumping but a fraction of its resources, there is no drilling off our continental coasts, and natural gas companies are shutting down operations because the demand is so low.

And now, the stigma of Japanese nuclear problems, combined with political cowardice, will all but halt the expansion of our nuclear program.

We can’t have it both ways. If paying less at the pump, bolstering national security and reducing greenhouse emissions are important, then nuclear power is the only real alternative.

So instead of punting away such a proven and safe energy source, America’s leaders need to show political courage by telling the people the truth, not what they may want to hear.

And here is the truth:

1) Unequivocally, China will not allow its nuclear program to be sidetracked or slowed by the problems in Japan. They have 27 new plants under construction, including the most advanced reactors in the world. While we bury our heads in the sand and bog down any new construction with litigation, our biggest economic and military competitor will continue to challenge our status as the world’s only superpower. And because of their determination and mettle, they will surpass us in a decade.

2) Nuclear power plants are safe. As is the case with anything, risks exist, but with proper oversight and increased fail-safe measures, many of which were implemented after the September 11 attacks, those risks are well within acceptable limits. And for those who may think this author is a NIMBY --- Not In My Back Yard ---there are four nuclear plants that literally surround my region.

Outside of the Three Mile Island (TMI) incident in 1979, there has never been a major accident in the United States. And not to minimize the seriousness of TMI, not only was no one hurt or killed, but numerous independent evaluations, including a 13-year study of 32,000 people, concluded that there were no adverse effects to the surrounding population.

3) Numerous ships in the United States Navy are nuclear-powered (including all aircraft carriers and submarines), allowing them to travel non-stop at high-speed without needing to refuel for twenty five years. Not only do these vessels represent a huge cost savings and are environmentally-friendly, since they forego two decades’ worth of oil, but they are an incalculable asset to America’s national security. And in more than 5,400 “reactor years” of operation with 500 reactors, and well over 130 million miles steamed, there has never been a nuclear accident.

4) Much of the damage to Japan’s plants was due to the tsunami after the earthquake. A common sense policy might be to build American plants several miles inland from the sea and not on fault lines, especially on the more-earthquake prone West Coast. While the rest of the country is not immune to earthquakes and tidal waves, the likelihood of those events occurring on even a fraction of the scale in Japan is remote. And America’s nuclear facilities are designed to withstand the power of the largest earthquakes.

America’s nuclear energy policy cannot and must not be formulated by what happens in other parts of the world where natural disasters (Japan) or human incompetence (Chernobyl) exist.

Common sense tells us that we can increase our nuclear-power knowledge from Japan’s unfortunate series of events. Those “lessons learned,” combined with the huge technology advances that have been realized from the days of TMI, would make America’s nuclear program the envy of the world.

Incredibly, it has taken a Democratic President to push this initiative, despite the vehement objections of his Party’s biggest constituencies.

With Republicans in control of the House and poised to take over the Senate, there is absolutely no excuse for not pushing ahead on the next generation of American nuclear power plants, which would be the first constructed in three decades.

With no end to soaring fuel prices and the Asian Tiger’s appetite growing every day, Americans should embrace nuclear power for what it is: a gift of clean and limitless energy.

To ignore this reality would be too great a risk.

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative

reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com

Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries

and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including

The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick

Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe."

Freind, whose column appears regularly in Philadelphia Magazine and nationally in

Newsmax, also serves as a frequent guest commentator on talk radio and state/national

television, most notably on FOX Philadelphia. He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com

Freindly Fire’s Biggest Winners Of 2010

It's that time of year again when Freindly Fire heaps praise upon those most deserving. You probably aren't going to find these winners on the lists of typical media outlets, most of which bow at the altar of political correctness.

The Biggest Winner of 2010, as is the case every year, goes to none other than illegal invaders, all 20 million of them. Year after year, they continue to win everything. They are handed driver's licenses, free education - in some cases all the way to college - and free first-rate health care. Most appallingly, their freedom exists because of our government's non-existent efforts to deport them. Their presence has forced the closure of hospitals, taken jobs from American workers, depressed wages and caused taxes to sharply increase. And let's not forget that many illegals are voting in our elections. How's that for irony: foreigners deciding American elections. And every time the illegals win, there is an even bigger loser. Us.

Michael Vick and the Canine Community

As quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, Vick has played spectacularly well, good enough to hide the team’s considerable shortcomings and earn the Birds the Division crown.  He is often mentioned as a leading MVP candidate, and many experts predict he will lead his team to the Super Bowl.

Which is all an unexpected pleasure, given that Vick was in jail not that long ago for executing losing canines in his dog-fighting operation. Given a reprieve by the League, he was the Eagle’s third-string QB last season, and he started this one as the backup.  He got his shot though, and, made the most of it.  Perhaps most noteworthy, he never used his numerous injuries as a crutch when the team lost, and has demonstrated more leadership in one season than former-quarterback Donovan McNabb showed in his entire, lackluster career.

Is Vick truly remorseful about the dog killing, or sorry only that he got caught? Tough to say, but second chances are what America is all about, and, for the most part, he has kept himself out of trouble.  With dogs everywhere breathing easier (actually, breathing at all), and Vick on the right track, he is definitely the most unexpected winner this year.

Governor Ed Rendell

Ok, not really.  Rendell’s eight-year tax-and-spend agenda, combined with widespread conflicts of interest throughout his Administration (some say pay-to-play) has driven Pennsylvania off the financial cliff, leaving a $5 billion deficit debacle for incoming Governor Tom Corbett to fix. And it’s been three years and counting since his promised interview with “Freindly Fire” --- making that the only media entity with which he refuses to speak.  I wonder why.

But fair is fair, and Rendell could not have been more correct when he hammered the NFL for canceling the Sunday night football game in Philadelphia because of a snowstorm.  Not a two-foot storm of the century, mind you, but an 8 inch “weather event” that would have made an outdoor football game one to remember. The roads were drivable, subway trains were operational, and the fans would have shown up in force --- loving every minute of it.  They do it in other places just fine --- Green Bay, Chicago and New England, to name a few.  But now, Philadelphians are officially considered pansies.

The reality is that the League saw an opportunity to test market Tuesday Night Football.  As with most things, the decision was rooted in money.  But it was done so at the expense of the last real sport in America, where players gut it out with broken bones instead of running to the disabled list because of a hangnail.  In many ways, the game’s cancellation reflects what America has become: soft and wimpy, offended by everything and decisive in nothing. It’s how we run business, operate government, wage war, and yes, play football. The pioneering, tough-as-nails spirit that made us unique is all but gone.

Rendell labeled the NFL’s action the “wussification” of America.  Wrong first letter, Guv.

Congressman Joe Sestak

True, Sestak lost his bid for United States Senate, but he was unique among politicians. Here’s a guy who gave up the job security of a 100 per cent safe congressional seat to take on 30-year incumbent and Goliath of the Senate, Arlen Specter, in a long-shot bid. The entire Democratic Party power structure was against him, from Rendell to President Obama, thus ensuring very limited campaign money.  Yet he persisted in his mission, even turning down a reported job offer from the White House. And a funny thing happened along the way: he won the primary election.

But the more admirable trait of Sestak was that he never backed down from his core convictions.  Whether or not one agreed with him, he should be respected for standing his ground and not playing both sides or “moving to the middle” to appease the pundits. 

For any pol to do that is unusual, but it’s even more amazing in a year that saw a political wave running in the polar opposite direction of his beliefs.  To Sestak’s credit, in the best Republican year since 1946, he ran to the left of Barack Obama, favoring bigger government, higher taxes, more stimulus and expanded national healthcare.  And with the courage of his convictions, he ran towards those ideas, not away, as the vast majority of Democrats did.

Voters are craving more leaders committed to their ideals, whether Right or Left.  They may not always agree with those people, but they respect knowing where such leaders stand.  Unfortunately, such courage is in short supply.

China

The global recession is wreaking havoc on America, but China continues to grow at an unprecedented rate.  Why?  Because they put themselves in a position to win no matter what transpires, assuming that political will in America doesn’t raise its head.  And since there’s a fat chance of that happening, China’s push toward domination continues.

 Taking advantage of its favorable trade deals with the U.S. (READ: bad for us), and benefitting from America’s business-killing tax rates (highest in the world), China is advancing itself with state of the art infrastructure --- such as the world’s fastest train, biggest hydro-electric dam, and 25 nuclear power plants under construction ---, and a first-rate military that not only boasts quantity but quality.

 If the dollar stays (relatively) strong, China’s boom will continue as its manufacturing expands.  And if the dollar plummets, China, while taking a slight hit in the value of the considerable U.S. debt it holds, could well find itself a kingmaker by controlling the world’s reserve currency.

Blaming China for our woes makes for effective campaign commercials, but unless we start taking a hard look in the mirror very, very soon, we might as well invest in Rosetta Stone for one last financial hurrah, as its “How To Speak Chinese” will be the hottest seller in the USA since Rubik’s Cube.

Chris Christie and the Republican Party --- Sort Of

New Jersey’s Christie has accomplished more in one year than damn near all the other 49 governors combined.  And all it took was that elusive trait called “political will.” The Republican Chief Executive has successfully taken on all sacred cows, from public education to unions, bureaucrats to the entrenched political culture. 

So effective has his brand of in-your-face reform been --- achieved with both legislative chambers being solidly Democratic ---, Christie’s star power is so bright that he is routinely mentioned as a presidential contender, and serves as a model for politicians nationwide, including Pennsylvania’s Governor-elect Tom Corbett. With Corbett and Christie as bookends in two powerhouse states, these law-and-order leaders may yet pave the way for how America gets itself back on track.

The Republican Party as a whole is a different story. 

The GOP would be wise to understand that the election was NOT a mandate for Republicans, as much as it was a protest…a shot across the bow of both Parties. Voters have grown increasingly irritated with the Business As Usual approach in Washington, Harrisburg and Trenton, and are demanding their elected officials focus on what the people want, not what some leaders think they need.

If they become the Party of No, expect the pendulum to swing back yet again.  People don’t want more of the status quo.

And with America more vulnerable than ever before, from its reliance on foreign oil to its economy --- with the dollar based on absolutely nothing of value --- the stakes have never been higher.  Will the GOP work with the President on his promises to expand nuclear energy and offshore drilling, enact further tax cuts and demand more teacher accountability?

The next year will tell, and if the Republicans --- and the President --- don’t play their cards right, they will end up on the nations’s Biggest Losers list.  And most definitely, neither can afford to be on such a list. 

Look for Freindly Fire’s Biggest Losers of 2010 column next week

Chris Freind is an independent columnist, television commentator, and investigative reporter who operates his own news bureau, www.FreindlyFireZone.com
Readers of his column, “Freindly Fire,” hail from six continents, thirty countries and all fifty states. His work has been referenced in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, National Review Online, foreign newspapers, and in Dick Morris' recent bestseller "Catastrophe."
Freind, whose column appears nationally in Newsmax, also serves as a guest commentator on Philadelphia-area talk radio shows, and makes numerous other television and radio appearances, most notably on FOX.  He can be reached at CF@FreindlyFireZone.com