Who would want to choose between the morality of indecision and fear versus the morality of blind, reckless gambles imposed on future generations? Whether we want it or not, the nuclear question awaits.鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app not just a political decision, or a scientific decision, or an economic decision, or even an environmental decision,鈥� he told The Catholic Register. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app got to be all of those factors.鈥�
For Christians a decision as complex as this has to involve prayer, reflection and an examination of our collective conscience.
鈥淲e are that creature that has self-reflective consciousness. We鈥檝e been given a certain intelligence by God, and we鈥檙e expected to use it,鈥� O鈥橦ara said.
People on all sides of the nuclear debate agree with O鈥橦ara 鈥� nukes or no nukes is a moral question.
Mike Belmore, external relations officer for The Society of Energy Professionals, believes 鈥渢here鱿鱼视频app a huge role for faith communities鈥� in deciding our energy future.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app about stewardship,鈥� he said.
鈥淭his is a power source that has lots of ethical and moral considerations,鈥� said Greenpeace nuclear analyst Shawn-Patrick Stensil. 鈥淲e need to have a conversation about responsibility. When we produce this technology, it鱿鱼视频app others who are taking the risk.鈥�
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app ethical in the sense that the now, the present, is poisoning the future,鈥� said environmentalist, mathematician and physicist Anna Tilman.
Tilman is the author of a submission to the Darlington New Build Joint Review Panel on behalf of the International Institute of Concern for Public Health, a think tank established by Sr. Rosalie Bertell, a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart. Tilman鱿鱼视频app 25-page submission sticks carefully to the language and methods of science, using her background teaching math to engineering students at the University of Toronto and her own graduate research in medical biophysics. People who want to use the language of morality, let alone the insights of theology, aren鈥檛 taken seriously by nuclear regulators, she said.
鈥淭here鱿鱼视频app an element of rudeness, if you address any of these issues, from the tribunal,鈥� she said. 鈥淭ribunal experiences are quite daunting.鈥�
If religious voices are treated with suspicion, that鱿鱼视频app no reason for Catholics to retreat, said Jesuit Father Roger Yaworski. As a spiritual director at Loyola House in Guelph, Ont., Yaworski specializes in teaching people how to make good decisions in their personal lives. But the principles of spiritual discernment he teaches are applicable to collective decisions in a secular context. The goal is to make a decision that isn鈥檛 biased by our most immediate appetites and desires.鈥淲e want freedom when we go to make decisions,鈥� Yaworski said. 鈥淲hen we put out the options, we can鈥檛 be swayed by sinful inclinations, to put it grossly.鈥�
If decisions on nuclear power are driven by a form of greed that demands cheap electricity so nothing in our lives has to change, that may not be a free decision, he said.
鈥淚f we need electricity, do we get it at all costs?鈥�
Looking at it from the point of view of the engineers, Belmore is adamant that conservation alone isn鈥檛 the answer.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to conserve our way out of nuclear or dirty coal and gas any time soon,鈥� he said.
The real choice society faces isn鈥檛 between nuclear and the softer alternatives like wind, solar and conservation, said Belmore. The real choice is between nuclear and fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.
But the scientific facts about that choice can be hard to get at, said O鈥橦ara.
鈥淟et鱿鱼视频app say we got rid of all the coal-fired electric generation plants in the world, and you replace them with nuclear energy by 2050. You鈥檙e only going to reduce greenhouse gases by about five per cent,鈥� he said.
Despite studying the question since he was in high school 30 years ago, O鈥橦ara still has no fixed and final position on nuclear energy.
鈥淭he hardest thing I find around nuclear power is to filter through the lobbying from all sides. It鱿鱼视频app hard to get to the science.鈥�
With people running around buying up iodine pills to protect them from radiation, based on what they see in Japan, Belmore worries about collective panic and Twitter-fueled rumour making up people鱿鱼视频app minds.
鈥淢oral questions are all hard,鈥� he said. 鈥淧eople need to get as much information as they can before they meditate on it, pray on it.鈥�
There鱿鱼视频app a difference between panic and legitimate fear, said Tilman.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think panic is the solution,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut if people are going to be conscious of this, maybe they can rethink this path we are living if it鱿鱼视频app not sustainable.鈥�
鈥淚t has to be a properly informed discernment where we look at the best information possible, reflect on that, pray on that,鈥� said O鈥橦ara. 鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app going to be a hybrid solution, no matter what we have. The question is whether nuclear is part of that hybrid solution.鈥�
Looking for Church guidance on nuclear power can be tough. Neither the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops nor the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario could find anything in their archives regarding nuclear power. While the Vatican has spoken frequently on nuclear warfare since Pope John XXIII鱿鱼视频app 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris, there are no teaching documents that address nuclear power.
In 2007 Cardinal Renato Martino told a journalist that he saw no reason to rule out peaceful uses of nuclear technology, and criticized Italy for barring nuclear plants from its soil in 1987 but importing electricity generated by nuclear plants in France.聽 聽
Among the most immoral arguments in the debate come from wind power opponents who contribute junk science on supposed health effects of turbines and battle wind farms to protect their property values and views, said Belmore. Front-line nuclear workers think there should be more wind power, he said.
But wind and solar can鈥檛 carry an advanced, technological society.
鈥淭he wind doesn鈥檛 always blow and the sun doesn鈥檛 always shine,鈥� he said.
People who are serious about the morality of nuclear power shouldn鈥檛 forget the origins of the technology, said Greenpeace鱿鱼视频app Stensil.
鈥淚t was born out of the arms race,鈥� he said.
Concerns over Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs are evidence that those origins over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where nuclear bombs were detonated to end the Second World War, still matter, said Stensil.
鈥淲hen you have this technology, you鈥檙e only about nine months away from the bomb.鈥�
People shouldn鈥檛 fool themselves that the decision-making process can go on forever, said Yaworski.
鈥淣ot to make a decision is actually making a decision,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ecause of our indecision, bad things happen.鈥�
The nuclear engineers know very well that bad things can happen, said Belmore.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e cheering for the Fukushima 50 louder than anyone. They鈥檙e praying for聽 the Fukushima 50 harder than anyone,鈥� he said.
{iarelatednews articleid="2715,4086,5217,5216,5213,5210,5214"}