I’m an Addict, and So Are You:
Discussion of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant Controversy
By Michelle Ning Lo – May 01, 2014
What are we believing?
Energy is a drug, and we are all hooked. But what’s more addictive than drugs? Cheap drugs, of course. The government of Taiwan has been storming its elite-filled brain for a way to cope with the nation’s ever-increasing demand for energy while maintaining its inexpensive electricity price, knowing that the energy-junkied population would inevitably freak if the government so much as touched a number on their energy bills.
Therefore, when the politicians discovered nuclear power, a godly light pierced through the storm clouds as angels choired in the background for, to the government, nuclear power was The Solution. It’s cheap to run and super efficient. It doesn’t even pollute the air or contribute to global warming. What a bonus!
And this is what students in Taiwan are being taught in school. I once worked as a lowly essay-grader at an English cram school for high-schoolers. I hated the job the entire time I was there, but I hated it the most when I was marking over 100 grammatical-error-laden essays on the topic of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. Not only did many of the students support the construction of this controversial facility, but the arguments they presented were so wrongheaded I found it impossible to grade them objectively without personal prejudice (and so I didn’t). They claimed that nuclear power is so benign it wouldn’t hurt a fly, and that it’s as clean as a kitty in the shower.
The misconceptions these high school kids believe are in fact also present in the minds of many mature, educated grownups, because when these grownups themselves were in high school, they were also taught the same misconstrued ideas, which just goes to show how extensive the influence of education is, which also explains why I can’t stop hating on Confucius and his followers for being such babble-mouths and making my high school Chinese class a living hell.
Joe vs. Moron
Speaking of ancient people and their sayings (The whole Confucius rant up there was really to set up for this transition, but I still hate that old geezer), we all know that history repeats itself. The difference between your average Joe and your average moron is that Joe learns from past experience, specifically the horrible experiences Moron let himself go through because Moron doesn’t understand that one who survives an entire bottle of Bacardi 151 isn’t henceforth invincible.
Joe’s ability is why most of us understand the injurious effects of drugs after seeing over and over again our respected celebrities perishing from drug abuse. People who claim they can safely snort cocaine or shoot heroin, we call Morons, because there is never a guarantee against overdose when you start going down that road.
Now, keep the thought of Moron in mind as I drive the topic of this discussion back to nuclear power, all the way north to the ghost town of Chernobyl, the site of the famous nuclear disaster of 19861. If you haven’t heard about this event, then you really need to get out of that league of legends or your world of warcraft because this event was friggin’ epic. They were just doing some engineer-y test with the nuclear facility and kaboom x2! the entire northern hemisphere was contaminated with traces of radiation, and now people a few years older than me have a greater risk of getting thyroid cancer. Random, but cancer’s weird like that.
“Boo-hoo, history,” Moron would say, snot he refuses to wipe away dangling from his left nostril, “but that was almost thirty years ago. Nuclear technology now is way better than the crap they had in the padded-shouldered 80s.” Alright, then. Let’s come back closer to home. No living, functioning person has not heard of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and remember when that happened? Three years ago. That’s right. Twenty-five years after Chernobyl and our nuclear power plants were still throwing whiny tantrums, this time because of forces beyond our control too. When earthquakes and tsunamis come knocking on your door, you can’t just pretend nobody’s home. And what’s another island country located in East Asia that’s prone to some geological seizures? Ilha Formosa!
Go and Google some pictures of what Chernobyl looks like now2, and while you’re doing that, keep in mind that over 1,500 deaths were reported after the Fukushima disaster due to physical and mental stresses of having to evacuate from home and live in shelters3. Also remember that these nuclear power plants were undoubtedly designed by educated scientists and professional engineers. I’m not challenging the expertise of these people—hell, I can’t even stop an egg from exploding in the microwave—I’m reminding people that even experts like them couldn’t guarantee the safety of their creations.
Taiwan is a country way smaller than Russia and Japan, and we already have three of these landmines patiently waiting for someone to step on them. Any one of them goes off, and Taiwan will be another ghost town contributing horrific photos to the internet, and where will all of us evacuate to, really? Formosa wouldn’t be formosa no more.
Pure as poop
It is true that nuclear disasters are rare. If we consider the amount of people who are doing drugs, it is also true that cases of fatal overdose are rare, but does this make drugs okay? Moron thinks so. That snot I mentioned earlier coming out from his left nostril? If you look closely, you can see traces of white powder clinging to the gooey strand.
People with a field of vision no wider than a horse wearing blinders argue that as long as nuclear power plants don’t go off on us, we can all live happily ever after. Nuclear energy is the ultimate clean energy we all dream about. It doesn’t pollute the air, nor does it produce carbon dioxide. It’s the cure to global warming! Don’t we want that issue out of the way?
I’m not sure if people who believe that male-cow excrement actually don’t know, or choose to forget the fact that nuclear power is far, far beyond the realm of clean energy. Nuclear explosions are preventable, yes, but there is something that is inevitable when we choose to split atoms to charge that smartphone we play Candy Crush with.
This something is nuclear waste. Ever since humans gave birth to nuclear power more than half a century ago, this temper-throwing, fear-inducing baby has been piling radioactive turd in its massive diaper, and we still have no idea how to change said diaper. Sure we could pick out the undigested corn kernels from the feces and feed it to the baby again, but ultimately the steaming heap would be left to stink the planet for millenniums4, and all we can do is scratch our balding heads and shrug our tired shoulders.
Taiwan’s current waste disposal “plan” is to hurl all the dirty stuff at Orchid Isle, because the residents are just a bunch of flying-fishermen wearing man-thongs living on a piece of land we’re too lazy to even try to take from them. There once was a time when we planned to just temporarily store our junk there and then ship the junk out into the ocean5, but then those bullying international organizations said that wasn’t cool, so we thought, “Meh. Let’s just leave it on Orchid then. Forever.”
Of course we didn’t say we were going to leave the waste there forever. We said that we were just keeping it there for the time being and would deal with it when we could, but even after decades of research, the only answer our experts and authorities have for the nuclear waste problem is nothing far from, "We still can't find a solution, but we're positive somebody in the future will figure it out6!"
This complacent optimism isn't just limited to the government. Plenty of people around me have also voiced similar attitudes. Some high school students of mine have argued that it's, like,totally okay forus to bury the waste in the ground for now until future scientists find a way to deal with it. They don’t seem to realize that these future messiah super-scientists would have to be one of their own. More bizarre proposals include using the waste to develop nuclear weapons, and the most mind-boggling suggestion was to send the waste to North Korea, who allegedly accept nuclear waste from other countries so they can create their own radioactive bombs.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could deal with all our problems that way? Global warming? Bury the sun until future people know how to turn the heat down. Sea level rising? Bury the North Pole until future people figure out how to stop it from melting. Difficult math test? Bury that too until future people dig it out and do it for you.
Fortunately our world isn’t completely contaminated with such short-sighted and irresponsible people. You’ve got to admit, baby poo is disgusting, so more and more people are unwilling to let nuclear power plants around the world continue smearing their ass-contents all over our home. Even in France, where the majority of the population supports nuclear power due to necessity, nuclear waste proves to be a deal-breaking issue that threatens the French people’s confidence in nuclear power7.
Besides radiation, nuclear power plants also produce large amounts of warm water, which are dumped into the ocean. In Taiwan, the warmer ocean water is creating mutated fish called Midiao (ugly), which fashion abnormally twisted spines. Although this phenomenon isn’t caused by radiation8, you can’t say these Ugly Betties are not victims to our nuclear baby’s notorious splattering urine.
So why should we let nuclear power plants pee and poo all over our lawn when there are far cleaner ways of acquiring what they offer us? People who say nuclear energy is clean might as well say cocaine is recommendable because it doesn’t give you skin cancer. People who say nuclear waste won’t be a problem in the future might as well say crack lung isn’t a problem until you get it diagnosed. These concepts are based on the logic of an amnesiac goldfish which can’t see out of its bowl (or just of a really hopeless crackhead). This is not how we big-brained homo sapiens should roll.
Priorities, people!
Whether it’s on the topic of the safety or the cleanliness of nuclear power, we see that people are getting their priorities all mixed up. They dedicate all their attention on the prevention of nuclear explosions while doing jack about the problem of nuclear waste, and they advocate nuclear energy as eco-friendly while again completely neglecting to mention all the pollution it produces.
But this isn’t all. One thing that really, really gets my hackles up is how the controversy of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is becoming nothing but a political issue, and there are self-deemed anti-nuclear advocates who still support the Fourth Nuclear Plant because they believe groups of balding, blabbering, tax-hoarding hypocrites are more important than our beloved earth. These people worry about the money we’ve already spent building the new power plant9, the penalty we would have to pay if we were to stop construction and violate the contract with the power company10, and most importantly their own political ideals, which they think is good enough an excuse to compromise the liveability of our homeland9. Even the politicians who do oppose the new power plant do so in a way that just seems like pure brown-nosing in order to get more support from voters11.
It is because of the politicization of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant that once when I mentioned the topic in an IELTS class, some students started to get uncomfortable. The topic of the essay we were working on was about the energy crisis, but that didn’t stop the students’ tendency to avoid political discussions. They were coming here to learn how to write argumentative essays, not to express opinions!
But ask anyone who knows me well and you will see that I’m the last person in this universe who would want to talk politics with you. The number of fecal pieces I give about what those unsightly suit-wearing vote-bribers think is a big, fat zero, and I would make that number a negative integer if I had the mathematical ability.
Yet I still find it necessary to talk about our nation’s nuclear problem because, get this, it is not a political issue. I don’t oppose the new power plant because I dislike the governing party or because I’m an attention whore and so are all politicians, I oppose the plant because it’ll wreck our island, our home. When a doctor tells you to stop smoking lest you get lung cancer, you don’t accuse him of being jealous of the tobacco industry for making so much money.
I try to make you go to rehab, but you say, “No. No. No.”
So what do you do when your doctor tells you to put out those cigarettes? What you’re told to do, duh. It’ll be difficult, trust me. You’ll constantly have to fight your cravings and find other things to occupy all that time you have free now that you can’t go out for some “fresh air.” You might have to spend money on therapies and nicotine replacements, and so much more food (eating would now be how you kill all that extra time). But once you get past that adjustment stage, you’ll finally understand what “going out for some fresh air” truly means.
Eliminating nuclear power would be like that. The government constantly threatens us that if we don’t build the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, electricity prices in Taiwan would increase 40%12; there would be periodical blackouts and power consumption limitations13; factories and businesses would shut down, causing an economic crisis13.
These warnings sound pretty frightening, but compare them with the problems that we’ve mentioned already—the nuclear explosions, evacuation limitations, waste disposal issues, mutant Gollum fish—and suddenly money problems seem relatively negligible when the other problems concern life and death.
Scientists who advocate nuclear power, however, are still stubbornly obsessed with nuclear energy’s low carbon footprint14. Looking at their arguments, it seems they are more concerned with Taiwan’s international reputation (“We need to lower our carbon footprint so other countries will like us!”) than Taiwanese land itself. And if they actually care that much for our environment, what are they suggesting to reduce nuclear pollution? Nil.
Other scientists have figured out a potential way to reuse residual uranium found in nuclear waste, but this technology doesn’t completely solve radiation issues15. And even if this is our answer to nuclear waste concerns, how come Taiwan isn’t building a waste-processing plant alongside the power plant?
But just think about it. If we have that much money to run a power plant, establish a waste-processing plant, and film nuclear power promotion commercials that have the quality of amateur pornography16, wouldn’t it be more worthwhile to use the money to enhance the efficiency of cleaner energy and to develop ways to reduce energy usage? We’re so optimistic that future generations would be able to truly solve the nuclear waste problem, but why not use that optimism on the hope that future scientists would be able to decrease the prices of cleaner energy?
We need to start limiting the amount of energy we use, and higher electricity prices is one solution. Though it would be an inconvenience, especially when there are just so many awesome games on Apple Store, this is the nicotine craving we have to fight until we are able to improve existing clean energy, develop new clean energy, or just get accustomed to using less energy. Indulging our cravings for cheap energy while flinging radioactive junk at our future generations is not how we leave a good name in their history books.
A drug addict’s biggest problem isn’t how to acquire enough drugs. If that statement just blew your mind, then you really need to go to rehab.
Bibliography
1. BBC News – The Chernobyl Disaster
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/guides/456900/456957/html/nn1page1.stm>
2. Memory – 海洋石頭 – 【分享】走進車諾比核災現場
<http://mypaper.pchome.com.tw/stone0718/post/1322825738>
3. Global Post – Indirect deaths from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster stand at 1,605
4. The Guardian – Nuclear waste: Keep out – for 100,000 years
<http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/24/nuclear-waste-storage>
5. 你核德核能佔領我的土地！－蘭嶼核廢料與原住民土地爭議
<http://www.indigen.fju.edu.tw/101/ar04.htm>
6. 自由時報 - 台灣核廢料處理專家：無解
<http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/focus/paper/673012http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/focus/paper/673012>
7. Frontline – Why the French Like Nuclear Energy
<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/french.html>
8. 環境資訊中心– 秘雕魚確係高水溫所造成，非關核污染
<http://e-info.org.tw/against/2000/against-00113001.htm>
9. 核四爭議的理想和現實
<http://www.phys.sinica.edu.tw/~tsongtt/c-writing-a'.htm>
10. 三立新聞網 – 燒錢無底洞？核四若續建封存恐花4300億
<http://www.setnews.net/News.aspx?PageGroupID=1&NewsID=21234&PageType=2>
11. 東森新聞 – 不謀而「核」！蔡英文昔挺續建今改口
<http://n.yam.com/ebcnews/politics/20140427/20140427256703.html>
12. 三立新聞台 – 恐嚇人民？經濟部：廢核有代價！電價恐漲4成
<http://www.setnews.net/News.aspx?PageGroupID=6&NewsID=21469&PageType=3>
13. 林義雄無限期禁食經濟部：沒核四有停電限電風險
<http://www.nownews.com/n/2014/04/22/1202346>
14. 台灣立報 – 為求減碳李遠哲支持核四續建
<http://www.lihpao.com/?action-viewnews-itemid-19830>
15. Radioactive Waste Not Wasted with New Green Chemistry Technology
<http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/download/a_590>
16. YouTube – 核四廣告浪費錢？綠委質疑起舌戰—民視新聞
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt7piRQo3jA>
我是毒蟲，而你也是：
討論核四爭議
羅寗 2014.05.01
我們相信了什麼？
能源是毒品，我們也全都上癮了。還有什麼是比毒品更容易上癮的呢？當然就是便宜的毒品啦。台灣政府正激盪著他們菁英的腦力，想找出又能負荷國家不斷增加的電力需求，又能維持現有低廉電價的方法。他們知道只要他們一碰到電力帳單上面的一個數字，全國的能源毒蟲們就會爆走。
因此，當政客們發現核能時，一道神光刺穿了烏雲層而天使在背景裡合唱，因為在政府眼裡，核能就是那神聖的答案。它既便宜又超有效率，連汙染空氣或造成全球暖化的問題都沒有。太好了吧！
這就是台灣的學生們在學校所學到的。我有一段時間在一個高中英文補習班當低微的改作文老師。那一整段時間我都對這項工作很厭煩，但是最受不了的一次是我改超過100張文法錯誤連連的關於核四的文章。很多學生支持建造核四就算了，但是他們提出的論點真的是扭曲到我無法客觀、無個人偏見地給他們分數﹝所以我沒有﹞。他們宣稱核能無害，連蒼蠅都不會打，也比洗完澡的貓咪還乾淨。
這些高中生的錯覺其實在成熟、受過教育的大人頭裡也找得到，因為這些大人自己在高中時也是被教這些被曲解的想法。這也告訴我們教育的影響有多麼廣，也解釋了為什麼我一直無法不去痛恨孔子和他的門徒們沒事講這麼多話，把我的國文課變成人間地獄。
王小明 vs. 腦殘
講到古人和他們的說法﹝上面在酸孔子的那段是為了要鋪陳這個轉折，但是我還是很討厭那個老頭﹞，我們都知道歷史往往重演。一個平常的王小明和一個平常的腦殘不同就在於小明會在過去的經驗中學習，尤其是腦殘自己造成的那些恐怖經歷，因為腦殘無法了解一個人活過一整瓶高粱後，不代表這個人就從此無敵。
小明的能力是為什麼我們看到一個又一個名人死在毒癮下，就知道毒品是不好的。說自己可以安全地吸古柯鹼或打海洛英的人，我們稱為腦殘，因為當你踏上這條路你很難保證你不會吸毒過量。
現在我們邊想著腦殘，邊把主題帶回核能去，一直到北邊車諾比的鬼城那裡。如果你還沒有聽說過這1986年發生的核災1，那你真的該從你的英雄聯盟或魔獸世界中走出來了，因為這場災難超屌的。他們只是要對核能設備做一些很工程師的檢查，然後就碰x2！全北半球都發現輻射的痕跡，現在比我大幾年的人也比較容易得到甲狀腺癌。感覺很不相干，但是癌症本來就很奇怪。
腦殘會邊流著一直不擦的鼻屎，邊說：「哭哭，歷史。但是那是三十年前的事了。現在的核能科技早就遠超過八○年代那些墊肩人的爛東西。」好，那我們回來一點點。現在世上沒有一個健全的人沒有聽說過福島核災，而記得那是什麼時候的事嗎？三年前。沒錯。車諾比發生後25年後我們那些核能發電廠還是那麼愛生氣，而且這次還是因為我們無法控制的原因。當地震和海嘯來敲門時，你不能假裝沒人在家就沒事。想想，還有哪一個島嶼國家也是位於東亞又常常被地球的羊癲瘋震撼呢？我們美麗的寶島！
去網路上看看車諾比現在長怎樣2，也順便想想福島後還有超過1500人因為驅離的肉體和心理壓力而死亡3。也記得這些核電廠一定都是由專業的科學家和工程師設計的。我不是說這些人無能—拜託，我連微波一顆蛋都會爆炸—我是想提醒人就連這些專家都不能對他們產物的安全性做保證。
台灣這個國家比俄國和日本小多了，然而我們已經有三個這種地雷靜靜地等待人來踩它們。任何一個爆發，台灣會是又一個鬼城為網路貢獻毛骨悚然的照片，而到時候我們到底是要驅離到哪裡呀？寶島不再會是寶島了。
乾淨的屎
核災很罕見，這是事實。如果我們考慮吸毒人的總數，真正因為吸毒過量而死亡的人很罕見也是事實，但這就代表毒品是好的嗎？腦殘是這樣覺得的。記得我前面提到他流著的鼻屎嗎？如果你仔細看，會看到黏液上面沾滿白白的粉末。
帶著馬眼罩的人認為只要核能廠不爆炸，我們就可以從此過著幸福快樂的生活。核能就是我們夢寐以求的乾淨能源，既不污染空氣也不產生二氧化碳。它就是全球暖化的答案呀！我們不是一直想解決那個問題嗎？
我不知道相信這種大腸排出來的話的人是真的不知道，還是選擇去忘記核能遠遠在乾淨能源的領域之外。核能爆炸是可以抑制的沒錯，但是我們為了充手機玩Candy Crush而開始分裂原子之後，有一種東西是不可避免的。
這個東西就是核廢料。自從半世紀前人們創造出核能，這個脾氣差又嚇人的嬰兒就開始在尿布裡堆積輻射性的米田共，而我們現在還是不知道怎麼更換這個尿布。我們是可以挑出那些消化不全的玉米粒然後再餵給嬰兒，但是最終那陀熱騰騰的屎還是會留在我們的星球上發臭好幾千年4，而我們能做的也只是抓抓禿著地頭、聳聳疲憊的肩。
台灣現今的核廢料處理「計畫」是把髒東西都丟到蘭嶼去，因為當地居民都只是一些穿著丁字褲的飛魚漁夫，住在一片我們懶得去跟他們搶的地上。是有一段時間我們原本想暫時把核能垃圾放在那邊，然後找時間丟到海裡，但是那些霸凌我們的國際組織們說不行5，所以我們就想：「好吧。就把垃圾放在蘭嶼吧。直到永遠。」
當然我們沒有說會永遠放在那。我們說我們只是暫時先存在那裡，以後能夠處理的時候就會處理。但是經過幾十年的研究，專家和政府對於核廢料問題的回答都還是「我們仍然沒答案，但是我們很有信心未來一定會有人有辦法的6！」
這種自以為的樂觀不只出現在政府裡，我身邊很多人也有這些想法。有些高中學生說我們把廢料埋在地裡等以後科學家來解決很OK啊。他們好像沒意識到這些未來救世的超級科學家必須是他們之一。更離譜的提議是說可以用廢料發展核子武器，而最令人摸不著頭緒的想法是說我們可以把廢料給北韓，因為北韓正在接受各國的核廢料來做自己的輻射炸彈。
我們可以用這種方法解決所有問題，那該有多好？全球暖化是嗎？先把太陽埋起來等以後的人想辦法把溫度調低。海平面上升？把北極埋起來等以後的人想辦法阻止它融化。很難的數學考試？也把它埋了等以後的人挖起來幫你做。
還好我們的世界不是完全被這些眼光短淺、不負責任的人給汙染。你不能不說嬰兒的大便很噁心，所以越來越多人不想讓核能廠把它們肛門的內容到處在我們的家園上抹。就連大部分人都支持核能的法國裡，核廢料問題正威脅著法國人對於核能的信心7。
除了輻射外，核能廠也會產生大量的溫水並將之排入海裡。在台灣，這些溫水裡開始出現秘雕﹝醜﹞魚，一種因為突變而脊椎彎曲的畸形魚。雖然秘雕魚現象不是因為輻射而造成的8，但是你不能說這些恐龍魚不是受禍於我們核能寶寶亂噴灑的尿液。
所以當其他更乾淨的能源也能夠給予我們電力，為什麼我們要讓核能廠在我們院子裡隨地大小便呢？說核能是乾淨的人不如說抽菸很好因為它不會造成皮膚癌。說核廢料以後不會是問題的人不如說醫生診斷出來前，黑肺病不會是問題。這種想法是一隻健忘、看不到魚缸外風景的金魚才會有的想法﹝或是一個沒救的老煙槍﹞。這不是我們大腦袋的智人應該有的行為。
想清楚啊，大家！
不論是核能安全性或是潔淨度，我們可以看見人們都把議題的優先順序搞混了。他們投入所有注意力在預防核能廠爆炸，但是卻把核廢料問題視為不存在。他們宣揚核能是環保的能源，但是又完全忽略了其造成的汙染。
不是只有這樣。一個真正讓我很不爽的是核四爭議現在已經完全變成一個政治議題了，而且現在有一些自稱反核的人依然支持建核四，因為他們相信一群禿頭、胡扯、貪財的偽君子比我們親愛的地球重要。這些人擔心著我們蓋核能廠已經花費的錢9、停建後因違約需付的違約金10、還有最重要的，他們的個人政治主張，好像這些主張是妥協我們家園的可居住性的好藉口一樣9。就連反核的政客讓人感覺只是在拍投票者的馬屁而已11。
就是因為核四的政治化，我有一次在雅思的課堂上提起這個議題，有些學生就開始不舒服。那堂課我們在寫關於能源耗竭危機的作文，但是這也沒辦法阻止學生避開政治話題的傾向。他們來上課是為了學會寫論說文，不是來發表意見的！
但是你隨便問一個跟我熟的人，你就會發現我是全世界最不會想跟你聊政治的人。我關心那些穿著西裝的醜陋賄票人士在想什麼的時數是一個大大的鴨蛋，而我也會把這個零變成負數如果我有那種數學能力。
但是我還是覺得討論核能問題是必要的，因為，聽好囉，這不是一個政治議題。我反核不是因為我不喜歡當權者，也不是因為我想紅，像所有政治人物那樣，而是因為我不想要核能廠破壞我們的島嶼，我們的家。當醫生告訴你不要抽菸了，不然會得肺癌，你總不會說他是忌妒菸草公司賺太多錢吧？
我叫你去康復治療，你卻說不要
所以當醫生叫你把菸戒掉，你該怎樣做？當然是聽他的話啊。相信我，這會很難。你需要一直克服慾望，也要找事情做，因為你不能有空就說你要去「呼吸」。你可能會需要花錢治療煙癮和買尼古丁替代品，還有很多很多食物﹝吃東西會變成你閒暇時間的新嗜好﹞。但是當你過了這個適應期，你會終於了解「呼吸」真正的意義。
去除核能的過程也會是這樣。政府時時威脅我們說如果不建核四，電價會上漲四成12、會有定期的停電和限電13、工廠和公司也會倒閉，造成經濟危機13。
這些警告聽起來蠻可怕的，但是拿它們和我們先前提到的那些問題比較—核電廠爆炸、核廢料處理、畸形恐龍魚—突然間金錢問題在生死問題面前大大失去重要性。
然而，支持核能的科學家還是執著在核能低碳的特性14。看看這些人的邏輯，你會發現他們比較擔心台灣的國際名譽﹝「我們需要降低二氧化碳排放量，其他國家才會喜歡我們！」﹞，而不重視台灣的土地。就算他們真正關心環境，他們提出解決核能污染的方案有幾個？鴨蛋。
其他科學家有找到方法可能讓我們重新運用核廢料裡殘留的鈾元素，但是這個技術也還是不能完全解決輻射問題15。而且，如果我們把這個當作是我們對於核廢料問題的解答，為什麼台灣沒有在核四旁也建一個廢料處理廠呢？
可是想想嘛。如果我們有那麼多錢可以運作核能廠、建造廢料處理廠、還有拍攝看起來像業餘A片的核能宣傳廣告16，何不用那個錢來改善乾淨能源並發展節能方法？我們對於未來世代能夠解決核廢料問題如此樂觀，何不把那種樂觀的態度放在未來科學家能夠降低乾淨能源的價格的希望上？
我們需要開始限制能源的消耗，而調漲電價是方法之一。雖然會很不方便，尤其Apple Store裡面有那麼多好玩的APP，但是這就是我們需要克服的尼古丁慾望，直到我們可以改善現有的乾淨能源、發展出新的乾淨能源、或是適應低能源消耗。自己放任自己滿足對廉價電力的慾望，又同時把輻射性垃圾拋給下一代，這不是我們在下一代的歷史課本裡留下好名的方法。
一個毒蟲最大的問題不是怎樣得到足夠的毒品。如果這個說法有嚇到你，那你真的該找人幫你戒毒了。
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