dispassionately talk of hypothetical scenarios – look like puppet masters. I am not comforted. My critical faculties are unable to assess the truth of the commentary.

I am not very knowledgeable about nuclear power, and until now I have allowed myself to remain ignorant of the concerns over its use. I have not thought much about nuclear energy policy, and have concerned myself mostly with energy issues as they relate to ecology: damming wild rivers, strip-mining for coal, Arctic drilling, acid-rain deforestation, and climate change. But the crisis of these last few days has catalyzed my thinking and pushed me to study nuclear power. I have much to learn. How is power generated? What are the ecological consequences? And most importantly, what are the ethical considerations?

Finding an answer to the first question is easy. The Fukushima power plant generates electricity using a straightforward, five-step process:

(1) Nuclear fission releases energy in the form of heat when atoms are split apart.

(2) Released heat boils water to make high-pressure steam.

(3) Pressurized steam turns the blades of a turbine.

(4) Rotary motion of the turbine spins the copper coils of a generator.

(5) The generator’s spinning coil – located inside the N-S axis of magnets – converts mechanical energy to electrical energy.

The final four steps of this process are common to many types of electricity generation; only the first step, the source of heat, differs. But this is where the trouble lies.