About three years ago, there was a terrible catastrophe that caused the worst air-traffic chaos after 9.11: the volcanic eruption of Mt. Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland. Also in the same year, Mt. Merapi in Indonesia erupted, causing volcanic damages all over the islands. Well, similar worries (frankly speaking bigger worries) are proposed over the eruption hazard of Mt. Baekdu.

Located in between China's Jilin Province and North Korea's Yanggang Province, Mt. Baekdu is one of the most colossal volcanos in the East Asian region. However, since a few years ago volcano and geology experts are proposing the theory that Mt. Baekdu might erupt in a few years time. And they are warning that if Mt. Baekdu erupts, its force will be 1000 times, yes, a thousand times the force of Iceland's volcano.

There are two cases for Mt. Baekdu's eruption. First, if Mt. Baekdu erupts in the winter, the volcanic ash from the eruption will flow in the direction of Japan and the Pacific due to northwesterly wind blowing from the Siberia. In this case air traffic over the Asia-Pacific region becomes unavailable and causes volcanic ash accumulations over the region. On the other hand, if Mt. Baekdu erupts in the summer, volcanic ash damages will be concentrated in China due to southeasterly wind and Eurasian air traffic will become impossible. But in all cases global average temperatures will decrease from about 1 to 2 degrees celsius, causing agricultural losses and volcanic winters. Also the 2 billion tons of water collected in the Baekdu caldera will cause massive flooding in the northeast region of China and the northwest region of North Korea.

Well, the hazard of Mt. Baekdu's eruption is in itself a great danger to us all. However, the real problem isn't this. The Chinese government is trying to build a nuclear power plant in the Jilin Province.

The Chinese government had originally planned to construct nuclear power plants in 2010, but had postponed the proposal after nuclear plants in Fukushima exploded after a terrible tsunami, resulting in the spread of radioactive matter. But according to satellite pictures experts are convinced that the Chinese government is on its way to building nuclear power plants only 100 kilometers away from Mt. Baekdu, which is a location that will inevitably receive direct effects of an volcanic explosion. If China does not want to see the world being destroyed from the universal spread of radioactive matter, it should immediately stop its construction of atomic power stations in such a dangerous place.