GE Not Exposed to Nuclear Liability in Japan (Despite known flawed design)

Fox News ^ | 3/16/2011 | By Matt Egan

[tobyhill]

Thanks to a nuclear-industry practice known as channeling law, General Electric (GE: 19.59, 0.00, 0.00%) doesn’t appear to be on the hook for liabilities related to the nuclear crisis at Japanese reactors designed 40 years ago by the blue-chip conglomerate.

Since the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that has paralyzed Japan, GE’s stock has slumped as much as 7.4%, in part due to worries about its legal exposure to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility, which is said to be teetering near a nuclear catastrophe.

However, analysts believe GE has little to worry about from a legal perspective and its bottom line may actually get padded by a potential increase in demand for sources of energy it specializes in.

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It is worth noting there has been criticism about GE’s design of the boiling water reactor and containment system. Regulators in the 1960s and 1970s expressed concern the containment vessel would probably burst, spewing dangerous radiation, if the cooling systems ever failed.

[BfloGuy]

A caller to Limbaugh yesterday, who claimed some familiarity with the original design and sale, said that the reactors were built to Japanese specifications and thus the responsibility lies with them. The reactors had originally been scheduled for decommissioning this year — but that had been put off.

[aruanan]

Something else the caller to Rush yesterday pointed out was that the reactors took a hit by a much more powerful earthquake than the specs called for them to be able to withstand and didn't fail until the tsunami, which was also much bigger than the Japanese civil authorities planned for. As far as the safety of nuclear power and earthquakes goes, the reactors operated just fine.

So, Joe Lieberman, Barry O, and related anti-nuke freaks, just bite it.

[newzjunkey]

Regulators in the 1960s and 1970s expressed concern the containment vessel would probably burst, spewing dangerous radiation, if the cooling systems ever failed.

Stay classy Fox.

[driftdiver]

Gotta get the lawsuits ready

[tobyhill]

GE has been the biggest corporate pusher of “Green Energy” so it’s worth noting that just like oil and coal there are risk in everything.

[tobyhill]

It won't break my heart to see GE take a healthy hit of frivolous lawsuit reality.

[Doc Savage]

Thank God Immelt and Obummer will still be able to be rich and play golf without any ethical questions hanging over their communist heads. Gee, I’m relieved! They are both such nice guys.

[Doc Savage]

I assume then that you are ok with them burying the nuclear waste next door to you?

[tobyhill]

but the Libs sure were targeting Haliburton for things they had nothing to do with.

[EBH]

Exactly, there was a certain level of risk the Japanese authority assumed at the time in directing the engineering of the reactor.

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.

[Hoodat]

At what point will Obama throw GE under the bus?

[rbg81]

I’m no Immelt fan, but surely you’re not holding him responsible for reactors GE designed 40+ years ago. Right?

[mmercier]

It is unfair to hold liable an entity whose product failed after an earthquake, a tsunami, and a systemic power failure. The utilities whose grid failed have vastly more responsibility for failure to require on site generation capability for those facilities than GE.

We call them diesel generators. I worked in a facility that had one system with three units that was bigger than a a box car. It had capacity to run the buildings necessary operations for a week without external power.

[fightinJAG]

*

[fightinJAG]

A nuclear expert guest on Hannity yesterday (I think it was yesterday) said the reactors had been fine through the earthquake, that it was the tsunami — the size and scope of which was remarkable — that had caused the cracks and the backup power (cooling capacity) failures.

[tobyhill]

Conservatives won't be the ones with the frivolous lawsuits against GE. Libtards are pros at throwing their own under the bus but sometimes they just need good info to get started.

[tobyhill]

I'm not holding all GE responsible for their 40 year old design flaw, I'm just pointing out what the article reads.

[tobyhill]

Be advised, GE's whole game plan is to use Government regulations against competition knowing they themselves are exempt from most regulations since they are a “Green Company” and Obama’s buddies.

[mmercier]

I am a 47 year old design flaw, yet here I be.