Fear and Loathing in the Atomic Age

Ahh, the atom. Its a love/hate relationship we have with our little nuclear friend, isn't it? I love the electricity coursing through my house that allows me to upload this post, keep all sorts of yummy food in the fridge and provide cheerful light on this gloomy day.


But I hate knowing that to enjoy these basic necessities of modern life I depend on the splitting of atoms and the resulting deadly waste. Just one hour of exposure to a spent fuel rod from one of Ontario's nuclear reactors and I'd be a dead man. Right now there are 30,000 tonnes of spent fuel rods in temporary storage at Ontario's three nuclear generating stations. They will be dangerous to everyone and everything on earth for half a million years. No one has been able to determine where or how to store them safely and permanently.

And then there's that other thing we figured out how to do with atoms...


Yup, we love it when we have these things and hate it when the other guy has these things. Seems like these days everybody's got these things when really, it would probably be best if nobody had these things.



This week, let's take a look at the art of the atomic age. You can see these images at full size in my new Atomic Age Flickr set.