Such an accident would come with extreme consequences. A collaboration of physicists, military personnel, and nuclear engineers estimated that the costs of a nuclear waste accident at San Onofre could exceed $13.4 trillion.
Not to mention, parts of Southern California would become essentially uninhabitable for 100,000 years, displacing some 8 million individuals and destroying our delicate coastal ecosystems.
Credit: York Daily Record (1979)
Historically, incidents such as that of Three Mile Island (TMI) emphasize both the danger posed to communities living near nuclear energy facilities as well as a need for research regarding the public health impacts of the nuclear industry.
Fifty years after the incident at TMI and consensus still has not been reached regarding the relationship between radiation exposure and regional cancer rates.
As it stands, the U.S. Congress has appropriated funds for the US Department of Health and Human Services to conduct cancer studies around nuclear plants, but such efforts have largely failed. On multiple occasions, research initiatives on this matter have been postponed, blocked, and canceled.
This is where the work of nonprofits such as our Samuel Lawrence Foundation can step in, through spreading awareness and supporting research and advocacy initiatives such as the work of the Radiation and Public Health Project. With joint collaboration between multiple sectors, we can protect the health of
our community, our environment, and our future generations.