And It Makes Me Wonder

Millstone Waterford Nuclear Plant

I admit to being glued to the news and the dramatic pictures of tragedy and destruction from the huge magnitude 9.0  earthquake and the resulting tsunami in northeastern Japan.   As if that weren't enough, the news continues to unfold about the critical situation involving several nuclear reactors in that area.    Given the potential for catastrophe when nukes go seriously wrong, it doesn't come as a surprise when people - including Connecticut's Senator Joe Liebermann - begin to question the use of nuclear power here in the United States.   You don't have to be in domestic panic mode to think twice about this invisible, tasteless and odorless hazard that many of us don't understand.   Not being a nuclear engineer, I can only wonder what would happen locally if the Millstone Waterford complex experienced a serious problem requiring mass evacuations.   I think back to one Friday afternoon when a serious crash closed down I-95 near the I-395 split.   Traffic was backed up in every direction for hours on the Connecticut Turnpike from Old Saybrook to Norwich, not to mention Routes 1, 32, 82, 85, 156, 161 and more.   That alone should be reason to extend Route 11.   That incident left a permanent doubt as to whether an evacuation here would ever work.   I hope we never need to find out, because it wouldn't be pretty.