Dangers that surround us

From the front yard of my hilltop home in Chattanooga, when the trees were bare, I could see the cooling towers of the Sequoyah Nuclear plant, owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority. It never gave me warm fuzzes to look at those towers, but the area was so beautiful, overlooking the junction of the Tennessee River and the Chickamauga Reservoir, that I failed to notice them when I bought the place on a sunny early summer day.

A friend's sister worked in an area where she wore hasmet suits while on the job. A couple of times she was exposed to what she was told were tiny amounts of radiation. We had regular practice air siren tests. We didn't check our readiness bags when we heard the sirens. Maybe some did, but I wasn't of aware of those folks. It was simply what was.

I had been an active member of Save Our Cumberland Mountains (SOCM), working against mountain-top coal removal (which we squelched for a few years). Nuclear must be better for the environment, right. Cleaner, yes. The minimal impact on my winter views was much less than that of silt and coal dirt that accumulated in the river beds of East Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia, making the water unfit for animal or human consumption. The Nuclear technology was safe, the cooling towers thick. And at Sequoyah, TVA constructed and purchased NRC-approved storage facilities for spent nuclear fuel. It was done right. We were vanquishing the environment's evil strip mining, making the enviroment cleaner. Yes--unless there was a disaster at a nuclear power plant.

Plans are now underway to produce bomb-grade tritium at the Sequoyah plant although there are loud protests from neighbors and environmental groups. I'm wondering if the deep budget cuts proposed in Congress will have any effect on those plans.

It does seem that curbing our insatiable desire for power is the only safe solution--and that one doesn't seem to be on the table.

We have been given a wonderful, amazing earth to live in and enjoy. It seems that it is difficult for us to find ways to live that allow us to respect and honor this earth.

I am so extremely fortunate to live in a beautiful part of this country and experience the glories of nature often--driving into town or walking in the area, the Flatirons, pictured above give me joy. Evening sunsets provide joy. My conserving practices are small. I must look for ways to do more to preserve this planet.