Pandora's Promise Movie Review

Nick Ho
APES E Block
04/14/16
Information from Pandora's Promise, Documentary

Anti-nuclear activists (PC: Pandora's Promise)

Pandora's Promise, 2013, is a documentary set out to break down many of society's misconceptions regarding nuclear energy. It takes stories from a group of environmentalists explaining the history of nuclear power, as well as many of the reasons why the fear of nuclear power has been ingrained into our minds. Pandora's Promise explains how many of the dangers of nuclear power are simply unjustified, and how nuclear energy is the solution to solving global scale issues surrounding climate change.

"The fact that the whole nuclear business was started for a bomb, and used as a bomb, put this whole negative side to it."

Light-water reactor (PC: Pandora's Promise)

After the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II, the idea that nuclear power's exclusive use was to destroy took hold. Soon, everyone began testing this new source of power. By the end of WWII, over 2,000 nuclear tests had taken place. Then, Admiral Rickover began to utilize this new technology for something new: submarine power. There were, in the 1950's, two kinds of reactors: breeder reactors and light-water reactors. Breeder reactors breed and recycle plutonium at a slower rate than light-water reactors, which complete nuclear processes much faster but with reduced resource efficiency and higher waste generation. Rickover opted for the light-water reactor in his submarine design.

“The enticement of the nuclear business was the fact that it was a new source of energy, a new source to generate heat, but the equivalency is huge. One pound of uranium, which is the size of my fingertip, if you could release all the energy, has the equivalent of about five thousand barrels of oil. That, to me, is amazing.”

Waste comparisons: coal, oil, hydro, solar, nuclear
(PC: Pandora's Promise)

People began to catch light of the fact that this new source of power was not only efficient, but also incredibly clean, especially compared to coal and oil processes. The first commercial nuclear plant in the US was built in Shipping Port, Pennsylvania. It was a modified version of a large submarine reactor. It was built because emissions in the area had become a cause for concern, and the low waste proposition of nuclear power was incredibly appealing. Power and light companies began to push harder for nuclear plants, and forced them to scale up quickly. Safety had become a secondary priority. Although the chances of an accident were low, they weren't no existent. 

“It must be absolutely awful to have your town wiped out, and you can’t even come and rebuild because it’s contaminated with radiation. It’s contaminated enough that it scares the shit out of you. Nobody can look you in the eye and tell you that you shouldn’t be worried. No other energy source does this, leaves huge areas contaminated by this huge invisible presence that you know can be deadly.”

Footage from inside Three Mile Island Nuclear Reactor
(PC: Pandora's Promise)

The accidents at nuclear power plants over the course of history have done a good job of instilling the innate fear of nuclear power. The first was in Three Mile Island in 1979. After a pump in the generator system broke down, many don't realize that the nuclear damage was a result of human error. Then, the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Chernobyl was inherently unsafe. It was primarily designed to make plutonium for bombs. No nuclear stations like the one in Chernobyl were built in the West. Finally, the tsunami and earthquakes in Fukushima  (2011) caused equipment failures in the nuclear plant. 

“Misconceptions and myths about the threat of radiation persist, promoting a paralyzing fatalism among residents.”

Radiation Reading on plant in US
(30.30) (PC: Pandora's Promise)

Radiation Reading in Chernobyl (0.92)
(PC: Pandora's Promise)

Many don't realize that the dangers of nuclear power are almost insignificant compared to the background radiation we're exposed to on a daily basis. There hasn’t been a single death from the operation of commercial nuclear reactors in the US. One would get more radiation exposure by eating a banana (from Potassium) than drinking all the water from a nuclear plant in a day. After the disaster in Chernobyl, many simply decided to ignore the restrictions and go on living in their homes. Only 28 died in 1986 due to ARS (acute radiation syndrome). 19 died from 1897-2004 of various other causes. 

"We won't get rid of nuclear weapons by forgetting how to make them. We'll get rid of them by deciding we don't want them anymore."

Countries with Nuclear Capabilities vs Countries with
Nuclear Weapons (PC: Pandora's Promise)

Another great concern is that the encouragement of nuclear energy will result in higher nuclear proliferation. This doesn't appear to be the case, however. According to the CIA, 37 countries are capable of having nuclear weapons. Only 9 actually have nuclear weapons. “We won’t get rid of nuclear weapons by forgetting how to make them. US is currently buying warheads from the Russians (now about 16,000 warheads). These warheads aren't being used during wartime, but rather being recycled for energy. So nuclear power has begun to deweaponize the world. 

“The very things made to blow up our cities are being used to power our cities.”

I personally am still skeptical about how safe nuclear radiation is. The idea that we're more affected by background radiation than by nuclear power plants is a bit of a surprise. It remains a possibility that the casualties from all of the aforementioned nuclear disasters have been covered up by governments and nuclear companies. Perhaps it is the voice in my head that has been told to think of nuclear power as dangerous. It's difficult to separate the two concepts of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. 

Regarding the overall benefits of nuclear power, I think they far outweigh the potential cons. Nuclear power is a clean source of energy that is also renewable. Looking at the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR), I understand how fuel can be recycled to continue generating nuclear power. This new reactor has passed various tests on safety, and can shut itself down. The waste is also comparably insignificant to the waste generated by coal, oil, and other fossil fuels. The amount of nuclear fuel spent in the entire US could fit in a football field if stacked to a height of about three meters. Overall, I'm excited to see what the future looks like in terms of nuclear power as an energy source and how public perception shifts over time.