THE news coverage of the tsunami stricken, ‘Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors’ on TV news programmes seems to have diminished and tailed off of late, but as far as I am aware the crisis is far from being resolved, with indeed the potential remaining for the situation to worsen at any time, not withstanding the possibility of new earthquakes occurring. The people of Japan have shown great courage and stoicism in the face of what must seem to be insurmountable odds, which does speak volumes for the sheer tenacity of them.

Here in Britain we have our own coastal nuclear plants, with our near neighbour France having many more in comparison, and although this small island of ours fortunately does not reside in an earthquake zone, the chances of a similar event occurring are not unthinkable however. One only need look at the cratered surface of our near satellite the moon, and certain places on the earth to see evidence of past asteroid impacts, and to then be aware that there is the possibility of an asteroid or comet fragment impacting an ocean in our immediate vicinity.

Although our planet is shielded to a certain extent by the ‘mopping up effect’ produced by the gravitational pull of the giant planet Jupiter in our solar system, which was proved by the Shoemaker Levi 9 comet event of July 1994, every so often a stray body will find its way through earth’s atmosphere at mass, angle, and velocity so as not to burn up, and it is not a question of if it will happen, but when.

We may be lucky enough to not witness any major event in our lifetime, but if it does we will fare little better than the unfortunate people of Japan, with large parts of Britain and Europe being rendered uninhabitable for millennia. I for one, am not confident that our nuclear plants would survive a tsunami of the size that hit Japan, let alone something potentially of a much larger scale.

This raises a profound question, as to whether or not we should be using nuclear generation in the first place, and if the advantages are outweighed by the possible catastrophic disadvantages, and should the existing plants be decommissioned over a suitable time period, for the sake of not only our own children, but our children’s children? Are we prepared to sit back and live with the risk, as the consequences if an event were to happen would almost certainly mean Armageddon for our island home?

MR G A WOODWARD MIET IENG Nelson Street Swindon