With a subject as touchy as nuclear power plants, arguments for or against can quickly degrade into fear, uncertainty, and doubt. But today's featured commenter, Cynical Tech Media Bitch, offered up rebuttals to create a discussion worth the read:

Well, Tim, as one gets older, one often finds that the "establishment" (hiding card demonstrating my own membership) keeps finding new and different ways to be terribly, terribly wrong. Being suspicious of conventional wisdom is not just a mindset for misanthropes; it's the sanest response after one's been sold a bill of goods.

I'm not anti-nuke in an irrational NIMBY-ish fashion, but I admit that few if any people would want a plant next door. Remember, there's also the little problem of transporting the waste. Do you want that convoy of radioactive crap going past your front door? Or on a poorly-maintained or overworked stretch of rail behind your house? No, I didn't think so.

Also, Diablo is probably not the best example to cite when talking about how wonderful nukes are, especially since the place has to be throttled down during winter storms; something about not wanting to suck kelp into the cooling system if I understand the problem. It's also pretty notorious for having parts of key systems installed backwards on the first go-around, and for having a major fault right offshore. Yes, the place has been reinforced, but that's according to building standards that are a quarter-century old. We've had two major earthquakes in Calif. since Diablo One and Two went online, so you'll excuse us aging hippies for being a little skittish of nukes.