Almost two weeks into the nuclear accidents at Fukushima, and little progress has really been made other than laying in a new electrical line to hopefully supply power to the six reactor complexes. Radiation will continue to be released in gaseous form and in irradiated water for many more weeks or even months before the accidents are deemed “over.”
The reality to the nuclear industry, as I said before, is that radiation has been released from a reactor…something we’ve spent billions of dollars on and the experts said could never happen in an American designed reactor operated in a technologically advanced nation. Add to that the fact that major problems have occurred in the spent fuel pools of all six reactors…something that very few gave any thought to. This alone will require expensive review and retrofit. And to and injury to insult, the fact that no technology, planning…basically thinking…on how to deal with the accidents once they happened. Nobody knows what to do. Right now, the focus is to pour sea water into the demolished reactor buildings to cool the vessels and spent fuel. All containment is gone, so the thousands of tons of sea water is just going in, some of it evaporating leaving behind caustic salts, and the now radioactive remainder just runs right back out to the ocean.
Here is our 2011 technology at work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozNg6Tnp_r8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEc64XckJgI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoJAYsT8Zbs&feature=player_embedded
Some possible plans of action include using the military (sorry, ours is busy someplace else) to bombard the site (280 acres) with a mixture of sand and concrete, and bury this for ever…sort of like the Egyptian pyramids, except not as expertly constructed.
Meanwhile, the 300 “engineers” are giving up their lives for their country. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated within a 20 mile radius, while Americans within 50 miles were told to leave.
As far a radiation levels and exposure, we missed the “Chernobyl” bullet (or bomb). But that is beside the point. "There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources” says physician Jeff Patterson, a former president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
http://www.psr.org/news-events/press-releases/physicians-for-social.html
Everything is NOT OK, as the nuclear industry is continuing to claim. “We think we're pretty well equipped," said Tony Pietrangelo, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry lobbying group. "We do plan for blackouts, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Clearly what happened in Japan is well beyond what they were designed for. It's highly unlikely but we have a station blackout rule to deal specifically with what happened in Japan. We think we're pretty well equipped."] You think they would send some of our “engineers” over there to help spit water on the fires.
“Analyst Jeremy Gordon with the World Nuclear Association, however, said overall the situation is not one in which Japan would need to abandon this major source of electricity.” He said Japan's nuclear plants are built with multiple safety layers and earthquakes in mind. "The engineering standard goes so far beyond what you would ever expect, and the regulations go far beyond what you would ever expect. The end result is that the power plants are extremely robust."
These are highly paid “educated” industry leaders in the world!!!???????!!!!!????!!!????
Pay Fox News and our moron politicians to blare these statements 24/7 to the brainwashed public, and everything is ok!
What if this happened near New York City, or Diablo Canyon in California, where a crucial backup pump was shut off for 18 months, and just two weeks ago was discovered and turned back on. There has been a lot of criticism of TEPCO, the Japanese utility for their shortcomings…sort of like PG&E with their gas line inspections. The NRC just last week gave Vermont Yankee a 20 year license extension…same age and plant design as Fukushima…in spite of the overwhelming protest of citizens and lawmakers. Just follow the money! It’s a global economy. Lot of the same players.
More later...and later…and later, because this is not going away for many years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment