I recently saw Billy Elliot and realized that it is about the same events as this song: Thatcher breaking the coal miners' strike and replacing that industry with more nuclear power. Sting here is bitterly criticizing that action; perhaps an attitude that wouldn't be so popular now as the harm that greenhouse gases do has been better publicized.
The lyrics have some nice turns of a phrase here. For example, "This place has changed for good" has a double meaning… Thatcher meant for the place to change for the better, but Sting means that it has changed permanently (but for the worse). "Dark satanic mills" is how he describes nuclear power plants, with a line lifted from William Blake; Blake is referring to the early years of the Industrial Revolution and Sting is saying the same of a new, nuclear era.
Incidentally, this song was written before the Chernobyl accident, which might have bolstered his fury greatly. Another point – this is one of two songs on the album voicing fears about nuclear technology, though the other, "Russians," is about nuclear war rather than nuclear power.
As deft as Sting was in a literary sense, I think he fumbled the science a bit, but maybe not as seriously as others have commented. To take on all of the science-related comments:
I feel fairly certain that Sting is simply being clumsy with the facts here. His stance is clearly anti-nuclear, and while much of his point here is concerned with the fate of the workers, he also draws concern with the waste, and that's where he chooses the isotope Carbon-14, which is a radioactive isotope, yes, but not a particularly deadly form of nuclear waste. HOWEVER:
Carbon-14 is produced by nuclear reactors. It is released into the environment in levels that is not deemed harmful, but it is released at night when photosynthesis is not occurring so that plants are less likely to absorb it and pass it on to humans when they eat them.
The half-life of Carbon-14 is 5,730 years, so "twelve thousand years" is about two half lives. I think perhaps Sting may have thought that it would be all gone after two half lives, which is incorrect – it would only be 3/4 gone.
Carbon-14 does occur naturally, and is in our bodies, but it is not intrinsically harmless. The radiation from it could and certainly occasionally does cause mutations, but the level is quite low and there's no eliminating it from our bodies, so there's no use worrying about it. It's caused by cosmic rays transmuting atmospheric nitrogen. Nuclear weapons testing caused the levels to double, but those have gradually subsided since surface tests have ended.
Note: the original name of the band that led to the Police was Strontium 90, which is one of the seriously dangerous isotopes in nuclear fallout, and a much bigger worry than Carbon-14.
In summary, Carbon-14 is a product of nuclear reactors and isn't totally safe, but if you were picking an example of a dangerous form of nuclear waste, it's not the best choice.
I recently saw Billy Elliot and realized that it is about the same events as this song: Thatcher breaking the coal miners' strike and replacing that industry with more nuclear power. Sting here is bitterly criticizing that action; perhaps an attitude that wouldn't be so popular now as the harm that greenhouse gases do has been better publicized.
The lyrics have some nice turns of a phrase here. For example, "This place has changed for good" has a double meaning… Thatcher meant for the place to change for the better, but Sting means that it has changed permanently (but for the worse). "Dark satanic mills" is how he describes nuclear power plants, with a line lifted from William Blake; Blake is referring to the early years of the Industrial Revolution and Sting is saying the same of a new, nuclear era.
Incidentally, this song was written before the Chernobyl accident, which might have bolstered his fury greatly. Another point – this is one of two songs on the album voicing fears about nuclear technology, though the other, "Russians," is about nuclear war rather than nuclear power.
As deft as Sting was in a literary sense, I think he fumbled the science a bit, but maybe not as seriously as others have commented. To take on all of the science-related comments:
I feel fairly certain that Sting is simply being clumsy with the facts here. His stance is clearly anti-nuclear, and while much of his point here is concerned with the fate of the workers, he also draws concern with the waste, and that's where he chooses the isotope Carbon-14, which is a radioactive isotope, yes, but not a particularly deadly form of nuclear waste. HOWEVER:
Carbon-14 is produced by nuclear reactors. It is released into the environment in levels that is not deemed harmful, but it is released at night when photosynthesis is not occurring so that plants are less likely to absorb it and pass it on to humans when they eat them.
The half-life of Carbon-14 is 5,730 years, so "twelve thousand years" is about two half lives. I think perhaps Sting may have thought that it would be all gone after two half lives, which is incorrect – it would only be 3/4 gone.
Carbon-14 does occur naturally, and is in our bodies, but it is not intrinsically harmless. The radiation from it could and certainly occasionally does cause mutations, but the level is quite low and there's no eliminating it from our bodies, so there's no use worrying about it. It's caused by cosmic rays transmuting atmospheric nitrogen. Nuclear weapons testing caused the levels to double, but those have gradually subsided since surface tests have ended.
Note: the original name of the band that led to the Police was Strontium 90, which is one of the seriously dangerous isotopes in nuclear fallout, and a much bigger worry than Carbon-14.
In summary, Carbon-14 is a product of nuclear reactors and isn't totally safe, but if you were picking an example of a dangerous form of nuclear waste, it's not the best choice.