The Woolsey Fire
Credit: The Woolsey Fire seen from Topanga Canyon in California. Photo courtesy of Peter Buschmann/USDA
/Flickr
In November 2018, the Woolsey Fire scorched nearly 100,000 acres of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, destroying forests, fields and more than 1,500 structures, and forcing the evacuation of nearly 300,000 people over 14 days. It burned so viciously that it seared a scar into the land that’s visible from space. Investigators determined that the Woolsey Fire began at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a nuclear research property contaminated by a partial meltdown in 1959 of its failed Sodium Reactor Experiment, as well as rocket tests and regular releases of radiation.
The State of California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) reports that its air, ash and soil tests conducted on the property after the fire show no release of radiation beyond baseline for the contaminated site. But the DTSC report lacks sufficient information, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It includes ‘few actual measurements’ of […]
We humans think we are so smart, so clever to invent this long, long lasting technology that no known past civilization has lasted nearly long enough to tend, 10K+ years.
Our so called civilization is based on the profit model of short term returns with the long-term sent to the landfill of forgetfulness. It will take future generations, if there are such, to cooperate in the renewal and cleanup of this beautiful planet some of us call home.
And while some want these devastating nuclear plants, we have a free resource called the SUN as well as the ever present winds to provide more than enough energy to supply the world. We are not a smart race and will probably die out before long unless we address our problems with an open mind toward the future.