NEI Nuclear Notes

Like a lot of folks, we've been seeing the reports out of Argentina that locals have caught a 3-eyed fish (leading to inevitable Simpsons comparison ) in a lake adjacent to the Embalse nuclear power plant . Here are just a couple of thoughts before the shots get mainstream media pickup: While the photos in question might be interesting to those who get their science from a prime time cartoon , one would hope they would be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. If the photos are real, we need to keep in mind that while seeing examples of mutation can be unsettling, they're not uncommon and occur naturally all the time. Drawing a connection between this fish and the power plant is more than a bit of a stretch. During normal operations, nuclear power plants are a source of clean and reliable, carbon free power. As even a source like Scientific American has noted, coal plants actually emit more radioactivity than nuclear power plants .