Life will find a way

This was around 1993, during my most high tech true believer period. I actually traveled to a Swedish nuclear power plant, Forsmark, to simply *look* at the place and imbibe its atmosphere. Believe me, getting there on a public transit ticket wasn´t easy! Still, I was able to walk up to the actual power plant itself, standing right below its main building – which surprised me. Are the gods of progress so oblivious to us mortals? I had expected the security parameter to start miles outside the building! I realized years later that my whole experience at the plant was some kind of bizarre blot (as in Asatru blot) to human ingenuity and the forces of progress, a kind of quasi-religious ritual if you like. And for the record, no, I didn´t feel a damn thing (LOL) except maybe some kind of general admiration for the power of our species in harnessing the forces of broken atoms. In a sense, I still do. Humans aren´t perfect by any reasonable metric, but some of us are pretty damn smart. Chimps, ravens or termites can´t split the atom, but then, I suppose you could argue that they don´t have to…

Which brings me to an even more bizarre thing I saw at the plant. Forsmark tried to promote itself to the general public as, wait for it, the *ecological* nuclear power plant. Yes, really. And in a bizarre way, they were actually right. Forsmark takes its cooling water from the Baltic Sea. When the water has cooled down the reactor, it´s released again into the sea, several degrees warmer than before. For this reason, the sea immediately outside the nuclear plant was never covered with ice, not even in dead winter. And that, in turn, was good for the wildlife, which got a kind of refuge outside the plant during the worst winter months. Including seals…

Seals are (or were?) threatened with extinction in the Baltic Sea, one reason being the toxic waste heaved into the waters by various industrial plants. But the Forsmark nuclear power plant doesn´t pollute its environment. It just emits slightly heated water. Therefore, a colony of seals had established itself on a small island just outside the plant *and the plant authorities organized sightseeing by bus for tourists to go and see the fantastic seal colony*. An information center (which was open but empty at the time I was there – a bit spooky) also carried huge photos of said seals, and also of seabirds, etc.

I suppose you *could* call this “the revenge of Nature”, if you like…

PS. A thorium reactor would, of course, be even more stunning. If seals like them is, alas, a question I´m not competent to answer at the present time.