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Interesting calming essay about nuclear power plan situation in Japan

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mouser:
I thought this was well written:
http://bravenewclimate.com/2011/03/13/fukushima-simple-explanation/

Follow-up story on people disagreeing with this explanation: http://www.salon.com/news/japan_earthquake/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/15/josef_oehmen_nuclear_not_worried_viral


Which led to a modification of the original post: http://mitnse.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/

Ath:
I fully agree. A clear and concise write-up of how and why things happened.

Didn't get to read it completely yet, but I'll continue later.

Eóin:
Excellent read.

tomos:
On the one hand it IS calming -
journalists here have been pretty open about not having a clue, so it's good to read about what IS happening.

But it makes me angry too:
1) The earthquake destroyed the external power supply of the nuclear reactor. [...]
Things were going well for an hour. One set of multiple sets of emergency Diesel power generators kicked in and provided the electricity that was needed. Then the Tsunami came, much bigger than people had expected when building the power plant (see above, factor 7 [earthquake 7 times stronger then what the power plant was built for]). The tsunami took out all multiple sets of backup Diesel generators.

When designing a nuclear power plant, engineers follow a philosophy called “Defense of Depth”. That means that you first build everything to withstand the worst catastrophe you can imagine, and then design the plant in such a way that it can still handle one system failure (that you thought could never happen) after the other. A tsunami taking out all backup power in one swift strike is such a scenario.
--- End quote ---
(my emphasis and additional text in square brackets)
-
the builders dont seem to have had much of an imagination -
how about the plant should never have been in an earthquake zone where one of the earth's plates is moving under another at the rate of 8 centimetres per year - I heard on the radio (also from a journalist, so...) that that is the most movement that way anywhere in the world.

2) the first illustration does not equate with what is said in the text - if the author want to inspire confidence, this is not a helpful start (I know this is nit-picking - but I'm an illustrator, these things bother me :p)

3) a smiley "Nuclear Power / Yes Please" like one of the anti-nuclear stickers on the left-hand-side of the page - this is crass, really crass in this situation. (And I would add to that: if I go to a site that's plastered with anti-nuclear "stickers" - I would also not feel that I'm in a place where I can trust the info for objectivity.) BTW I realise this paper is simply quoted there.

tomos:
There's so much speculation going on that it's probably best just wait and see - I've only been looking at the sites linked to from mouser's link, but the news from those sites is still mixed

14th 8:50PM (what timezone?)
At 8.50pm Tepco told NISA that it presumed some of the fuel rods were broken, based on radiation detected in the environment.-http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS_Loss_of_coolant_at_Fukushima_Daiichi_2_1403113.html
--- End quote ---
home site with most recent updates:
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/default.aspx

the site mouser links to - here's the most recent updates/homepage:
http://bravenewclimate.com/
This site does seem dependable, but the pro-nuclear-agenda comments within the articles really bother me, e.g. "Please also take the time to read this: An informed public is key to acceptance of nuclear energy — it was never more relevant than now". This is not the time or the place for comments/articles like that. It really takes away from what the guy has to say...

here's an interesting read from someone living in Japan, about their highly evolved emergency responses:
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/03/13/some-perspective-on-the-japan-earthquake/
(posted by Renegade on FB)

EDIT/
Another, the International Atomic Energy Agency; 14 March, 15:35 CET (also linked from bravenewclimate)
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/tsunamiupdate01.html
Japanese authorities have reported to the IAEA that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 2 has experienced decreasing coolant levels in the reactor core. Officials have begun to inject sea water into the reactor to maintain cooling of the reactor core.

Sea water injections into Units 1 and 3 were interrupted yesterday due to a low level in a sea water supply reservoir, but sea water injections have now been restored at both units.
--- End quote ---

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