Posts by CI100 2 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Mar 2011
What triumph Ammaross Danan?
Partial meltdown/damage of the fuel rods has occured in all three reactors operating at the time of the accident.
Reactor no 2 containment breach is likely.
Harmful long-term radiation has escaped.
Worn-down 40-yr-old reactors should not be operational.
I for one am not celebrating this triumph.
I would agree that the nuclear aspect of the earthquake/ tsunami disaster is minor compared to the overall death and destruction. However, as nuclear accidents go, it is not minor. It has been classified as being of the same severity as Windscale and Three Mile Island (INES level 5). Only two more accidents in the history of nuclear power were deemed more serious (Chernobyl and Kyshtym) and they are both described as 'disasters'.
Having said all that, I am still a supporter of nuclear power. But what we have learned from Fukushima should be used to make nuclear reactors safer in the future. Arguing that the accident was caused by a set of circumstances beyond engineers'/ designers' imagination, that the plant was old etc etc and therefore nuclear energy has been proved to be safe is not valid. Perhaps nuclear plants should be decommissioned sooner. Perhaps fortifications against tsunamis should be even more robust. Certainly something should be done about the inherent design issue of BWRs, of the hydrogen explosions caused by exposure of the core which were not protected against. It is likely that, had it not been for these explosions and the equipment damage, debris etc they caused, the power would be back up by now and the remaining reactors/ spent fuel pools made safe.
Finaly, although I overall agree with Lewis's points, I believe that his reporting style is not very different to the Fox/ Sky news he so despises.
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