Nuclear plant returns with health risks

As a former combat Marine, a live “loser and sucker” according to the nonveteran Donald Trump, I wanted to write about our president now being the world’s judge, jury, and executioner by blowing up a boat that he said was full of drugs and people from Venezuela. Anybody actually check the boat before it was blown up? This action, along with bombing Iran which we are not at war with, should set Trump up with a date at the International Criminal Court rather than the Nobel Peace Prize that he somehow seems to think he deserves.

Instead of writing about that, there is a local story that is just as, or more, important to mention. That story is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granting NextEra a waiver to advance the Duane Arnold nuclear plant restart (The Gazette Aug. 27).

This is a pretty amazing “thumbing your nose” at science by FERC and the Trump administration based on the recent Guest Column by Joseph Mangano in The Gazette (7-19-2025). This is part of what Mangano wrote in that column:

“Local risks of cancer and other diseases near Duane Arnold have been a concern since the reactor began operating in the mid-1970s. But nearly five years have passed since shutdown. An important question on the future of the plant is whether local health has improved since 2020 — especially among infants, who are most sensitive to radiation exposure, and thus more likely to immediately benefit from the removal of this environmental hazard.

“According to CDC data, since 2020 the infant death rate in Linn and Johnson counties fell 16.4% compared to declines of just 8.9% in other Iowa counties and 0.6% nationwide. The rate of babies born prematurely — who are more likely to have health problems — fell even more sharply (down 20.5%), versus increases elsewhere in Iowa and the U.S. (up 4.5% and 0.9%).

“Multiple factors may contribute to these trends. But most of them — such as improvements in health care, housing conditions, and diets — were not likely to have changed abruptly in the two-county area after 2020. Removal of routine exposures to harmful radioactivity to local residents — including mothers — was an abrupt change, and must be considered as a potential factor. Other studies near closed reactors have found similar patterns.”

So besides blowing up any boat he wants and bombing any country he wants, Trump, and his Administration, are saying babies no longer need protection from nuclear plants no matter what the science says, and, while we’re at it, humans no longer need vaccines to protect their health no matter what the science says.

Iowa Republicans are running around saying vote for me because I’m a Trumper. Wow. Ethically and morally challenged doesn’t even begin to describe any of this.

Bob Watson lives in Decorah.