But reports of a "dead zone" thousands of miles into the Pacific do persist, along with disappearances of salmon, sardines, anchovies and other ocean fauna.
Of course, atomic reactors are not the only source of radioactive fallout. Atmospheric bomb testing from 1945 to 1963 raised background radiation levels throughout the ecosphere. Those isotopes are still with us.
Burning coal spews still more radiation into our air, along with mercury and other lethal pollutants. Fracking for gas draws toxins up from the earth's crust.
Industry apologists say reactors can moderate the climate chaos caused by burning those fossil fuels. But fighting global weirding with atomic power is like trying to cure a fever with a lethal dose of X-ray.
On a warmed, poisoned planet, the synergistic impact of each new radioactive hit is multiplied. All doses are overdoses.
In 1982, Adm. Hyman Rickover, founder of the nuclear navy, put it this way:
"Until about two billion years ago, it was impossible to have any life on earth; that is, there was so much radiation on earth you couldn't have any life -- fish or anything.
"Gradually, about two billion years ago, the amount of radiation on this planet ... reduced and made it possible for some form of life to begin, and it started in the seas. ...
"Now, when we are back to using nuclear power, we are creating something which nature tried to destroy to make life possible. ...
"But every time you produce radiation, you produce something that has life, in some cases for billions of years, and I think there the human race is going to wreck itself, and it's far more important that we get control of this horrible force and try to eliminate it."
We know from Dr. Alice Stewart the dangers of even a single X-ray to a pregnant human. And from Dr. John Gofman, former chief medical officer of the Atomic Energy Commission, that nuclear power is an instrument of "premeditated mass murder."
At Three Mile Island, the mutated vegetation, animal and human infant deaths still remain a part of the immutable record.
Chernobyl still lacks a permanent sarcophagus, leaving the surrounding area vulnerable to continued radiation leakage. Fukushima daily dumps more than 300 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific. The stacks and spigots are still gushing at more than 400 reactors across the globe. The next disaster is already in progress.
The good news is that the same green energy technologies that can bury nuclear power can take the fossil burners down with them. They create jobs, profits, ecological harmony and peace. They're on a steep trajectory toward epic success.
As the reactor industry's lethal isotopes gut our ecosystems, from bottom to top, our tolerance for these "safe doses" falls to zero. We may not fall over dead from them immediately, but the larger biospheric clock is ticking. We need to act.
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