Posts by siegeld

Fukushima scaremongers becoming increasingly desperate

Fiasco

I'm pro nuclear. Still, there is no question that the Fukushima situation is disastrous, at the very least from a PR standpoint. There have been uncontrolled explosions, makeshift solutions, and the possibility, however remote, that something more serious could go wrong. The news reporting has been a little on the scaremonger side, but Lewis Page responds with equally bad whitewashing. Forget the tone of the news reporting, the facts have largely been reported correctly. The real worry is given how out of control the situation has appeared to be over the past few weeks, how bad could it really have been, and what risks, if any, it could get worse. Even the Japanese government and Tepco refuse to say that this situation is entirely under control, something that the "expert" Lewis Page seems to think he understands perfectly.

Shame on the Register for giving page so much airtime for essentially repeating the same point over and over.

Fukushima one week on: Situation 'stable', says IAEA

Poorly done, Lewis

Also note that Tepco makes around $1.5 USD profit in a year. The loss on this reactor fiasco will certainly exceed years and years of profit of the utility - perhaps the lifetime profits of the company.

You've got to be kidding?

The earthquake and resulting tsunami were tail events, not expected, and extreme. They caused a horrible chain of events at the reactors that easily could have had a very bad ending. People have a fear of radiation, and rational or not, that is how humans think. Deaths from radiation come over time, not instantly, like with a tsunami. Hopefully the situation is stabilized, but in any case it was total chaos for days, and clearly a close call. The question is not how to protect against this tail event - sure, that's easy now that it happened, in hindsight. The question is what will be the next unexpected situation at a nuclear reactor? The problem with reactor technology is that it is hard to test, very expensive, and not mass produced. It is very hard to make such things robust. Any good technologist should understand this.