Will I Glow in the Dark?

From The Hartford Courant, Nov. 4, 2005: A Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector Monday will conduct radiological tests and remove samples from the decommissioned Connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant, a week after the agency learned contaminated water had leaked from the spent fuel pool building.

The pix in my earlier post showed an idyllic place to live. Today's post was shot the same day and time from the same location. I just looked farther south down the riverbank. The dome is the central cooling tower of the decommissioned CT Yankee plant. They are in the process of removing the spent fuel rods from the spent fuel pool and storing them in concrete casks on site a little farther off the water. At one point in the debate over whether to allow the utility to store the rods in this manner it was discovered that there was nothing in federal or state law that prevented Northeast Utilities from bringing in spent rods from other decommissioned facitlities. The only thing that prevented it was the local zoning regulations, and they were being challenged! A deal was negotiated that has since ended that possibility. This beautiful place in the most populated region in the country will not become the national nuclear waste repository.

The news clip and the pix are not meant to be a rant against the despoiling of my perfect little corner of the world. It's a reality check for myself and any who might be envious of my habitat. In spite of all our efforts to re-discover it, or re-create it, there is no going back to the Garden of Eden. We live After the Fall. Time to turn our focus forward toward redemption and transformation. Our efforts are wasted in vain attempts to reclaim some perfect past, whether they be of the Noble Savage variety espoused by so many left-leaning folks, or the pure Americana of the right that seeks a Christian America that never was.