I, Soldier - part 33

One evening, we were cooking dinner together. The conversation turned to nuclear power. I had been reading up on it and had been exchanging letters with some scientists on the matter. 

"Tom, do you think nuclear power is the future?"

"Yes. The waste problem is not nearly as serious as most people think. Spent fuel rods only emit alpha and beta particles, which can be stopped with cardboard. They do emit such particles in dangerous amounts for hundreds of years though. Basically, radioactive materials like are only dangerous if you eat or breathe them."

"Everything I've heard and read about nuclear power suggests that it's expensive and dangerous."

"See that smoke detector up there? It uses nuclear energy. It works off the radioactive isotope Americium-241. The principle is the same as a Geiger counter. The isotope's radiation charges the air near it. If that charge changes because of smoke, the circuit which powers the alarm is triggered. If you look closely at the label on the side facing the ceiling, you'll see a warning not to tamper with it because there is radioactive material inside."

"So there's a nuclear reactor in my kitchen. Great."

"It doesn't emit enough radiation to be harmful. We all get exposed to natural sources of radiation which our bodies are adapted to continually repair. The plastic case shields us from the alpha and cluster radiation, and only a tiny amount of gamma radiation leaks out. It's very hard to shield against gamma radiation and x-rays. That's why you wear a lead vest when you get x-rayed at the dentist. Your skull protects your brain and the lead vest protects your other vital organs."

"Does anything else in this house emit radiation?"

"Our TV puts out a small amount of X-rays. If I had a Geiger counter, I could prove it to you. Radium was once used for making glow-in-the-dark watch dials. The women who painted them were told to lick the brushes. Many of them got radiation poisoning from swallowing small amounts of radium. Marie Curie probably died of radiation poisoning because of her work with radioactive materials. No one knew about the risks back then."

"Kind of like how everybody smoked back when no one knew about the health risks."

"Basically, yes. Same idea. Every form of technology can be dangerous. We don't stop using electricity even though people die in electrical accidents every year. Same goes for cars, airplanes, medicine, surgery...hell, even fire can be dangerous. It's amusing to think about what sort of debates cavemen had over fire safety."

"Alas, The Flintstones were silent on that subject. It's as mysterious as how Wilma managed to acquire a pearl necklace despite clearly living far inland."

"And it would take Fred far more effort to move his car around than to simply walk. Though I enjoyed the dinosaur workers at the quarry. And all the critters who said 'eh, it's a living'."

"I would not mind a vacuum cleaner in the shape of a baby elephant."

"I should add that nuclear energy is great for space probes. Solar power isn't practical once you get more than about 93 million miles away from the sun, which is about how far away we are. A nuclear thermocouple is the solution to that."

"What's a thermocouple?"

"If you take two wires made out different metal, say copper and steel, and join both ends, you can get electricity by heating one end. This is how an electric thermometer works. Your body heat powers the thermocouple and different amounts of heat create different amounts of electricity which a circuit can detect and measure. So for a space probe, it can get all the electricity it needs for hundreds of years if the heat of radioactive decay is used to power the thermocouple. The Soviets have been using decay heat reactors to power unmanned lighthouses near the Arctic circle for a long time. Nobody would want to work in such a harsh and isolated environment."

"I've read a bit about the nuclear reactors the Navy uses on subs. They have a great safety record."

"Right. We have dozens of nuclear reactors moving around in the ocean, yet people are scared of a stationary one on land. I guess the association with nuclear weapons is what gets people upset."

"Is there anything the Science Committee can do to promote nuclear power?"

"Deregulating the nuclear industry would be best, but it's a tough sell. And I doubt the Department of Energy will ever be disbanded. It used to be called the Atomic Energy Commission, if I recall correctly. It got renamed, sort of like how the War Department became the Department of Defense."

"It sounds like I might need to trade favors to get any support for nuclear power."

"Not necessarily. Simply advocating for it could be useful. You could try a petition from scientists. The Pioneer 10 probe which NASA launched a few years ago gets its electricity from a plutonium thermocouple. Not many people know about that."

"I don't want to be a shill for the nuclear industry."

"You won't be as long as you're being honest and factual. The campaign contributions might come in handy. As Voltaire said, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

"We certainly do not live in the best of all possible worlds."

"It doesn't matter how slowly you move as long as you don't stop, according to Confucius. Ancient Chinese philosophers are worth reading."

"I'll keep that in mind, Hong Kong Phooey."

I had become an expert of sorts in cartoons during my adventures as Mr. Mom. There was often one playing on the TV whenever Alexandra came home for lunch or dinner. The kids liked the talking animals and wackiness; I liked the easter egg adult jokes hidden in the dialog. Perhaps someday there would be a TV channel with just cartoons; a sort of "cartoon network" if you will. The excursions to local sights continued. Cathy particularly enjoyed riding the life-size triceratops statue at the National Mall in front of the natural history museum. It was named Uncle Beazley after a dinosaur in a children's book. What a shame it would be if kids were ever forbidden to ride that statue.