Posted on 03/15/2011 7:55:45 PM PDT by Frantzie
The warnings were stark and issued repeatedly as far back as 1972: If the cooling systems ever failed at a “Mark 1” nuclear reactor, the primary containment vessel surrounding the reactor would probably burst as the fuel rods inside overheated. Dangerous radiation would spew into the environment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ping to me for later. GE may not be primarily negligent here, but this event, rightly of wrongly, casts doubt on the GE brand in a very high-stakes and competitive market.
I deal with a bunch as a headhunter. They loved to hire their own. Almost cult like.
We don't have supermen who can go through many feet of concrete and steel and with their bare hands pick up tens of tons of molten, radioactive goo that would kill you in seconds.
According to available information, repeated explosions made the plant uncontrollable and inaccessible. This is big, heavy stuff; you can't send a volunteer with a crowbar to lift a 30" steam pipe and weld it, while it is spewing 1,000 psi of radioactive, superheated steam right in your face. This is when robots come into play - exactly as it happened at Chernobyl. At very least you need bulldozers with lead shielding and a large number of workers, so that they can be swapped out before they get too much radiation damage.
We are all gonna die from radiation leaking from the reactors in Japan. Women, Children Minorities, Gays, Lesbians, and the Transgendered Will Suffer Most.
President and Eternal Saviour, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. who was born in earthquake-prone Hawaii and is our proud nation's first black President, knows all about this stuff.
Administration sources link the failure of Japan's reactors to George W. Bush's racist hatred of the urban poor and Cheney-firm Halliburton's Global Earthquake Device. Our proud nation's first African-American President who was born in Hawaii is studying the situation as he works his picks for March Madness. His statement on the situation in Egypt is expected soon after he and the First Lady return from flying down to Rio for a big party.
Too late. Someone in Central America smoked a cigarette outdoors last week... we're all going to die from that once the smoke makes its way to us.
Damn that Bush!
I agree that more effort is required than 50 men for 6 reactors working 72 hr shifts.
IMHO, the owners of the facility have been grossly insufficient in supporting those running the plant or if those operating the plant have insufficiently reported their situation, those to whom they report have failed to take remedial action.
I have no problem with those operators backing out. They appear to have been performing at superhuman levels. IMHO, proper management would have been taking measures to have a proper turnover to the next crew to manage the situation.
The impression given in the press is that they all have now just walked away from a mess.
Do you want to know how many US reactors do the same for much longer periods of time?
Hint, most have ALL of their spent fuel on site.
“The impression given in the press is that they all have now just walked away from a mess”
There is nothing really left to do...this site is over, finished, done for...
Nope, sorry to disagree.
There was a certain level of risk the Japanese authority assumed at the time in directing the engineering of the reactor, containment, and back-up systems.
Reiterate one more time...does one plan for a 100 year event, 1000 year event, or a million year event? Most plans I’ve ever seen require the 100 year event included as the speck of the design. This event was bigger than a 100 year event.
You get anything that exceeds the designed specs. it becomes an act of God...sh*t hit the fan....
The reality is if the tsunami had been the planned 7 meter event, none of this would be happening. The reactor would be performing beyond design specifications.
So the question remains for over-reacting folks...what level do you regulate too? What risk level do you accept?
It is a double edged sword right now. Forty years ago this natural disaster event in Japan would have likely resulted in the loss of life far beyond what they are today. Building designs etc. have vastly improved since then and that makes this that much more heartbreaking.
What had not been upgraded to keep up with modern expectations? Again, the risk managers would have only been considering the 100 year event horizon, even though more lives would be saved through modern building design. The risk levels changed and actually increased from a 1 in 100 years to a 40 in 100 years and more lives are in play. Japan had just authorized a 12 year extension on these designs. They were taking on over a 52% risk level or higher.
But...if the ‘event’ occurs...it is an act of God. At what point though is it no longer an act of God? GE wasn’t and isn’t responsible for the Japanese assumed risk.
Many of these plants were built knowing there were disposal issues too. Scientists and designers at the time figured we would have resolved that issue by now. We have not.
Many plants around the world reprocess or send their fuel for reprocessing keeping the cooling ponds at lower spent fuel storage levels lower. The United States banned reprocessing. Many of our spent fuel pools are near or are at capacity.
At what risk?
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