Crow here. Favorable trade winds have carried me home from places further away than you'd easily believe. Before returning to susan's castle in the sky (and chasing some grungy pigeons off her balcony on the way in) I made a stopover in Japan for a visit with some old friends.
In Japan dragons have always been associated with the power of the sea. In March we witnessed the awesome destruction caused by a tsunami after a major earthquake. The results of that were bad enough but before any of us could really comprehend the destruction, the events at Fukushima took the spotlight position. Some may have wondered why the nuclear reactors were placed right next to the sea but in reality that's not unusual at all.
During normal operations older nuclear power plants require approximately 15,000 gallons of water per minute to keep the radioactive cores cool. Once the chain reaction begins it never really stops - not in anything close to the possible lifetime of any species currently living on Earth. It would have been nice if the scientists who first developed nuclear power had decided to look for a way to neutralize radioactivity (something that defies the laws of physics) before countries actually started using them as a means of cheap power. Did you know there are more than 440 nuclear plants currently in use and most of them have more than one reactor? The largest percentage of them are also more than 25 years old which makes it extra worrisome when you think of nuclear facilities as old tech. susan's electric toothbrush is probably smarter than the systems installed several decades ago ('You missed a spot', it cheerfully informs her.) Should I even mention that nuclear power plants produce tons of radioactive waste that would require safe and secure storage guaranteed to last at least 10,000 years? Nobody anywhere wants the stuff buried nearby.
Since people are often short sighted and greedy, it seems quite likely that when nuclear power plant operators have to decide between profit and maintenance it doesn't take much guessing to know which one they'll generally choose. Human beings tend to believe only in dangers they can see. If nuclear power plants spawned real dragons instead of particles that kill either fast or slow then everyone would demand they be shut down immediately.
Nuclear power is deadly to children and all living beings. Remember that the sun will always shine and the wind will always blow somewhere.
Now I'm off to have a snifter of brandy and a taste of the fine fruitcake susan just carried in on my favorite antique silver salver.
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This is the painting I finished just as Crow arrived home. Please don't give me too much credit for the dragon since much is owed to the famous Japanese print artists Hokusai and Hiroshige. The mistakes, including weird color combinations, are all mine.
ps: The sign over the gate is the best copy I could make of the 'three non-nuclear principles' kanji which promised that Japan would not possess, manufacture, or introduce nuclear weapons. If only they'd passed on the rest.