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.
(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.