[Vision2020] Well Chuck, Here We Go Again

[Paul Rumelhart]

While TEPCO's handling of the situation was atrocious, I would also like 
to point out that the Fukushima Daichi plant withstood a 9.0 earthquake 
followed by 40ft waves, which were more than twice as high as their sea 
wall was built to withstand.  It was an act of God (don't mean that 
literally) that was far on the outside of what they even thought was 
possible in terms of likely occurrences.

I've only been able to find references to three deaths directly 
attributed to the Fukushima disaster.  Two of them occurred during the 
earthquake and tsunami, and one worker who was in his 60's died of a 
sudden illness when cleaning around the reactors, but they are unsure if 
it's radiation-related because he was exposed to about as much radiation 
as a chest x-ray.

Anyway, compare and contrast to the coal mine fire that has been burning 
underground for 50 years under Centralia, Pennsylvania.  That wasn't 
caused by a natural disaster of epic proportions, it was caused by 
someone throwing some hot ash in a landfill that didn't have a 
fire-resistant clay barrier that was up-to-date.  The fire is still 
burning today.

I just hate to see this incident used as the poster boy for the 
anti-nuclear crowd.  Sure, if they'd doubled the height of the sea wall, 
or had moved the emergency generator to higher ground instead of 
trusting the sea walls to hold, the disaster might have been mostly 
diverted.  This wasn't a Chernobyl, where human error was the main cause 
of the disaster.

That having been said, there are newer designs out there that they need 
to expedite testing on to ensure that even this level of a disaster 
won't cause a containment breach.

If we want to get off of oil and coal any time soon, nuclear is the only 
real way to go.  Eventually, they'll solve the energy storage problems 
and make intermittent alternative energy sources more viable.  In the 
meantime, though, nuclear is the only way to go for alternative 
base-load generation.  Well, and hydro, but there are only so many 
rivers we can dam up.

Paul

On 03/27/2012 08:37 AM, Art Deco wrote:
>
>
>   Probe at Japan's crippled nuke plant finds fatal radiation levels
>
> Published March 27, 2012 | Associated Press
>
> advertisement
>
> A new probe at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant has found fatal 
> radiation levels and hardly any cooling water inside one of the 
> reactors, renewing concerns about the plant's stability.
>
> The operator of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant says an 
> endoscopic examination Tuesday detected radiation levels up to 10 
> times the fatal dose inside the No. 2 reactor's contain chamber, 
> suggesting challenges ahead in shutting down the facility.
>
> The probe also found the containment vessel had cooling water up to 
> only about 2 feet from the bottom, far below the yards estimated when 
> the government declared the plant's stability in December.
>
> Plant workers also reported fresh leaks of contaminated water from a 
> water treatment unit, some flowing into the ocean.
>
>
> http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/03/27/probe-at-japans-crippled-nuke-plant-finds-fatal-radiation-levels/
>
>
> -- 
> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> art.deco.studios at gmail.com <mailto:art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
>
>
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