Fukushima thread: Japan 'unprepared' for Fukushima nuclear disaster

[Tank]

Japan 'unprepared' for Fukushima nuclear disaster

Japan was unprepared for a nuclear accident on the scale of the one at the Fukushima plant, the government said in a report to be submitted to the IAEA.

The report says poor oversight may also have contributed to the crisis.

The authorities have pledged to make the country's nuclear regulator (Nisa) independent of the industry ministry, which also promotes nuclear power.

It comes after Nisa doubled its initial estimate of leaked radiation in the first week after the disaster...

Fukushima update.

[Sweetdeath]

This scares me so much!
I was so concerned when I was watching the Japanese gov, whom is imcompitent  to begin with, try to deal with this massive situation.

Now the world is on edge, because we could still be on the dangers of a meltdown. When will this world stop using Nuclear energy? I was hoping after that incident in Russia (or the Ukraine?) We'd learn to switch to less dangerous energy methods.

[Tank]

Fukushima 'lessons' may take 10 years to learn

Learning all lessons from the accident at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power station could take a decade, according to France's top nuclear safety officer.

But all nuclear countries should carry out safety tests within a year, said Andre-Claude Lacoste.

The chairman of the French nuclear safety agency (ASN) was speaking at a forum in Paris organised by the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA).

Regulators said international control of nuclear safety would be "difficult".

The forum follows a day of political discussions on nuclear safety organised by the French G8 presidency, and comes two weeks before ministers gather in Vienna for a week-long session at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that could set new international rules...

[Tank]

Japan nuclear: Radiation halts water clean-up

Operators of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have suspended an operation to clean contaminated water hours after it began due to a rapid rise in radiation.

Some 110,000 tonnes of water have built up during efforts to cool reactors hit by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.

The contaminated water, enough to fill 40 Olympic-sized swimming pools, has been at risk of spilling into the sea...

...It is the rainy season in Japan and the pools of contaminated water could overflow, adding to radiation already released into the sea, adds our correspondent.

Earlier this week, officials had warned the radioactive pools were in danger of spilling into the sea within a week...

[Asmodean]

Such accidents are the price we pay for our standard of living and level of comfort.

I, for one, am well-prepared to pay up and shut up and, I think, plenty of people would subscribe to my point of view when push comes to shove.

We can never be prepared for everything, and sometimes shit just happens. Ok, so we close ALL nuclear power plants in the world tomorrow... What if Yellowstone decides to blow up the day after? How prepared are we for that? Oh, it's an unlikely event, but so is a catastrophic nuclear power plant failure.

I think that if we do want to be prepared for life-threatening accidents, we can start with things like cars and firearms. They are a far greater threat to human life than any nuclear power plant has been up until this day.

[Tank]

I'm not anti-nuclear power, I do however think that nuclear power is so 'sexy' that it has, in the past, attracted too much investment at the expense of renewable energy sources. 

For me the big worry is that the bad press fission has given nuclear power will taint fusion in the future.

[Asmodean]

For me the big worry is that the bad press fission has given nuclear power will taint fusion in the future.

I think many people are afraid of new technology just because it's new technology, so fusion will certainly have its own against-movement complete with fake numbers and doomsday scenarios and protestors marching around in the rain with posters, thinking someone's listening.

[Tank]

For me the big worry is that the bad press fission has given nuclear power will taint fusion in the future.

I think many people are afraid of new technology just because it's new technology, so fusion will certainly have its own against-movement complete with fake numbers and doomsday scenarios and protestors marching around in the rain with posters, thinking someone's listening.

I don't doubt that. I'm just waiting for the ignorant ranting 'Nuclear power is bad. Nuclear power is bad.'!!!

[Asmodean]

I don't doubt that. I'm just waiting for the ignorant ranting 'Nuclear power is bad. Nuclear power is bad.'!!!

You know what I don't get..?

These people with posters, they want pretty much everything to be green and sustainable and tree-hugging and nice, and yet they use computer technology, electricity, motorized transportation, synthetic fibres and a whole load of stuff which requires energy and non-renewable resources to produce.

Take the stuff away, or even some of it, and they will scream and shout and march around with new posters, demanding their comforts back. Me, I thought hypocrisy was supposed to be subtle... Maybe I misunderstood.

[The Magic Pudding]

This scares me so much!
I was so concerned when I was watching the Japanese gov, whom is imcompitent  to begin with, try to deal with this massive situation.

Now the world is on edge, because we could still be on the dangers of a meltdown. When will this world stop using Nuclear energy? I was hoping after that incident in Russia (or the Ukraine?) We'd learn to switch to less dangerous energy methods.

Are you scared for yourself or the Japanese people?
The danger is pretty much limited to the Japanese people, and maybe some people who eat a fish who's passed that way.


No one else has so I suppose it's left to me to roll 'em out.
Fossil fuels cause deaths, respiratory diseases are everywhere, I don't really know how much can be attributed to fossil fuels.  There has been more than a few dead coal miners over the years, and then there's that global warming thing.

[Tank]

Japan sacks three nuclear power officials in shake-up

Three men in charge of nuclear power safety and policy have been sacked amid the ongoing crisis at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Japan's Trade and Industry Minister, Banri Kaieda, said the three senior officials would be held responsible for mishandling the plant and its problems.

Radioactive material is still leaking from the plant nearly five months on.

The crisis has also brought to light the close links between the government and the power industry...

[Crow]

No one else has so I suppose it's left to me to roll 'em out.
Fossil fuels cause deaths, respiratory diseases are everywhere, I don't really know how much can be attributed to fossil fuels.  There has been more than a few dead coal miners over the years, and then there's that global warming thing.

Not only that the state of fossil fuel power plants after the tsunami were completely fucked, they were some of the early images that were broadcast when the news first hit but than disregarded when the Fukushima disaster became apparent.

Seeing as the Fukushima plant was directly on the coast when the tsunami hit and still has been able to be kept under a certain amount of control with the state of things slowly getting better I see it more of a lesson to be learned, with further improvements nuclear energy can be safer than fossil fuels. There were 5 nuclear plants that were in the tsunami impact zone with 4 being damaged and 1 that contaminated the surrounding area. The Onagawa Plant was much closer to the epicenter of the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami than Fukushima Daiichi yet received far less damage.

[Evilbeagle]

I find it hard to believe that the Japanese Government didn't foresee the possibility of a tragedy like this.

After all Japan sits on an earthquake zone known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. 90% of the world's earthquake occur in this region.

It is caused by plate tectonics, the Ring of Fire is a subduction zone where one plate slides under another.

It occurs to me to wonder whether the Japs decided to take the risk believing that just because something is unlikely it won't happen ?

[Tank]

I find it hard to believe that the Japanese Government didn't foresee the possibility of a tragedy like this.

After all Japan sits on an earthquake zone known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. 90% of the world's earthquake occur in this region.

It is caused by plate tectonics, the Ring of Fire is a subduction zone where one plate slides under another.

It occurs to me to wonder whether the Japs decided to take the risk believing that just because something is unlikely it won't happen ?

It does beggar the mind doesn't it. In addition why did they build the things on the exposed East coast rather than on the relatively protected West coast as far away from the subduction zone as they could!

[Evilbeagle]

Maybe it was cheaper on the exposed coast. Money are always seems to trump safety.
Three Mile Island near Harrisburg was a classic example.

Technician:   "We should shut down the reactor to check it all out"
Bureaucrat:  " That would cost millions!"