• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Merged nuclear power safe?

I'd say that the question as to whether nuclear power is inherently dangerous or safe is different from the question as to whether TEPCO is a fit organisation to run nuclear power stations.

Given its record of fraud and inaction over safety incidents over the last 20-years at least, I'd say that it is not.
 
This looks pretty interesting:

TOKYO - Mitsuhiko Tanaka, a former nuclear plant designer, suspected from the beginning of Japan's atomic crisis that a magnitude-9 earthquake led to a loss of coolant that triggered the nation's worst nuclear accident.
Click to expand...

"I believe that the government and the operator made up a basic story at the beginning to minimize the effect of the disaster on other nuclear plants," said Hideyuki Ban, co-director of the Citizens' Nuclear Information Centre in Tokyo.
He said they wanted to portray the Fukushima accident as an "isolated case."
From the beginning, they insisted it was the tsunami, not the quake, that led to the nuclear emergency, Ban said.
Click to expand...

Link
 
There were several TV interviews with Americans who were at the plant during the earthquake, and the tsunami. They all described cracked buildings, radiation levels going up, and mass chaos and damage, before the tsunami sent everything to hell.

In particular, they described how everyone at the plant ran away from the water.
 
With today being the year since day, and still having way too much time, I have been reading many Fukushima threads since the start, a year ago. It's quite revealing now, knowing what we do, about what was really happening, and comparing it to the optimistic predictions, denial and ignorance of events at the time.

I used to think it was all deliberate on the part of the governments and media, due to the scant nature of any facts about what was happening. Now it looks like they really were almost completely ignorant of what was taking place.
 
r-j said:
There were several TV interviews with Americans who were at the plant during the earthquake, and the tsunami. They all described cracked buildings, radiation levels going up, and mass chaos and damage, before the tsunami sent everything to hell.

In particular, they described how everyone at the plant ran away from the water.
Click to expand...

Earthquakes, particularly large ones, tend to do that.

I think running away from the water could be classed as a primal urge. I note that they didn't stand there wondering about why everyone was seeking higher ground.
 
r-j said:
With today being the year since day, and still having way too much time, I have been reading many Fukushima threads since the start, a year ago. It's quite revealing now, knowing what we do, about what was really happening, and comparing it to the optimistic predictions, denial and ignorance of events at the time.

I used to think it was all deliberate on the part of the governments and media, due to the scant nature of any facts about what was happening. Now it looks like they really were almost completely ignorant of what was taking place.
Click to expand...

You're a day late. By the time you posted this, it was the 12th in Japan.
 
kowalskil said:
jimbob said:
There is plenty of evidence for TEPCO falsifying safety reports ...
Click to expand...

What was their motivation? Desire to avoid consequences of panic was probably a small part of it.
.
Click to expand...

That might have been the case during an emergency, but this was falsification of routine safety documentation over many years.

This had been ongoing more than 20-years* and the first revelations of cover ups came out in 1995.



A culture of hiding mistakes, and trying to avoid the financial penalties of having failed components.

Here is the FT on TEPCO

When it comes to keeping the public informed, the record of Japan’s nuclear industry is not inspiring.

In 1995, there was a cover-up of the extent of an accident at the Monju fast-breeder reactor. Four years later, three workers at the Tokaimura reactor suffered high doses of radiation when safety measures were circumvented. Then in 2002, Tepco was caught falsifying safety data. After a 2007 6.6-magnitude earthquake, Tepco admitted that another plant had not been designed to withstand such tremors. The industry, said Mr Cucek, has had “an attitude problem about safety”.
Click to expand...

One might (reluctantly) accept misdemeanor in a small part of the organisation if the board deals with it effectively when it is discovered; new incidents after the corrective actions have supposedly been put in place demonstrate that TEPCO is not a suitable organisation to run nuclear power stations.

*The World Socialist Web Site claims TEPCO admitted to falsification dating to 1977 but I can't confirm that.
 
Last edited:
'U.S. University: Low-level radiation appears to have had immediate effects on bird populations in Fukushima Pref. — Areas surveyed are mostly still open to human occupation — Worse than expected — More pronounced than Chernobyl'

"""Overall, the bird community as a whole was significantly diminished in the more contaminated areas.

Moreover, the team compared the results to a similar study they undertook in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone from 2006 through 2009. For 14 species of birds found in both locations, the diminution of population size from increased radiation dose was more pronounced at Fukushima than Chernobyl.

According to co-author Timothy Mousseau, a biologist in the University of South Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences, this suggests that “these birds, which have never experienced radiation of this intensity before, may be especially sensitive to radioactive contaminants.”

However, when comparing all birds, including the species that are not common to both areas, the overall strength of the negative relationship was stronger in Chernobyl than in Fukushima. The authors believe that this may reflect the fact that many species in the most contaminated regions of Chernobyl have now almost completely disappeared."""
 
Well I think there would be little argue that Fukushima or Chernobyl were environmental disasters. They were. Such risk is involved in many industry branches, and especially in fossil fuel exploitation. Still I think it does not mean the nuclear power is not relatively safe.
 
I think an oil spill would be a better example of bird kills. And long lasting destruction of habitat.
 
JihadJane said:
'U.S. University: Low-level radiation appears to have had immediate effects on bird populations in Fukushima Pref. — Areas surveyed are mostly still open to human occupation — Worse than expected — More pronounced than Chernobyl'
Click to expand...


One gets a somewhat different picture of the report's contents when one goes to the University of South Carolina's site and reads the release on the report there. Highlights:

University of South Carolina said:
Low-level radiation in Fukushima Prefecture appears to have had immediate effects on bird populations, and to a greater degree than was expected from a related analysis of Chernobyl, an international team of scientists reported Feb. 8 in Environmental Pollution ...

According to co-author Timothy Mousseau, a biologist in the University of South Carolina's College of Arts and Sciences, this suggests that "these birds, which have never experienced radiation of this intensity before, may be especially sensitive to radioactive contaminants." ...

... Although these early data are critical for setting a baseline, Mousseau added that it's imperative that "large-scale studies be initiated in Fukushima immediately to make the research potentially much more revealing."
Click to expand...


The above is a bit different from the scaremongering emphasis given in Jane's link.
 
Corsair 115 said:
One gets a somewhat different picture of the report's contents when one goes to the University of South Carolina's site and reads the release on the report there. Highlights:




The above is a bit different from the scaremongering emphasis given in Jane's link.
Click to expand...

I don't understand your point, Corsair 115. The highlights you quote are quoted in the link I posted.

"Scaremongering" is a scary word, isn't it?
 
Last edited:
Corsair 115 said:
The above is a bit different from the scaremongering emphasis given in Jane's link.
Click to expand...
Yeah, cause any mention of damage from radiation is like being scared of an oil spill. Just trust the company, the oil/radiation/coal/mercury/(insert pollutant of choice here) isn't really dangerous. And no huge corporation would ever lie about anything like that.

Everything is fine. Move along folks, nothing to see here.
 
JihadJane said:
'U.S. University: Low-level radiation appears to have had immediate effects on bird populations in Fukushima Pref. — Areas surveyed are mostly still open to human occupation — Worse than expected — More pronounced than Chernobyl'

"""Overall, the bird community as a whole was significantly diminished in the more contaminated areas.

Moreover, the team compared the results to a similar study they undertook in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone from 2006 through 2009. For 14 species of birds found in both locations, the diminution of population size from increased radiation dose was more pronounced at Fukushima than Chernobyl.

According to co-author Timothy Mousseau, a biologist in the University of South Carolina’s College of Arts and Sciences, this suggests that “these birds, which have never experienced radiation of this intensity before, may be especially sensitive to radioactive contaminants.”

However, when comparing all birds, including the species that are not common to both areas, the overall strength of the negative relationship was stronger in Chernobyl than in Fukushima. The authors believe that this may reflect the fact that many species in the most contaminated regions of Chernobyl have now almost completely disappeared."""
Click to expand...

Earthquakes and tsunamis are hard on wildlife populations.
 
"The authors believe that this may reflect the fact that many species in the most contaminated regions of Chernobyl have now almost completely disappeared."

Yep, a tsunami sure messed up them birds there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom