Just a few observations:
1. Japan has done a stunningly bad job communicating, both at the company level and at the governmental level. The result is that NO ONE in the general public really knows what the situation is, what has been done to contain it, or what realistic expectations of the future might be.
2. The Japanese government, and Tepco, are clearly trying to downplay the potential danger. Perhaps the poor communications have been an intentional part of this, or perhaps they are just REALLY bad at communicating. Regardless, the result is that their credibility has become suspect.
3. Many nations are now advising their nationals to leave the immediate area, and some are even advising leaving Japan altogether. They would not be doing this if they felt the risk is low.
4. Some high profile outsiders are claiming the situation is not what the Japanese have claimed. Some pretty incendiary claims have been made, including the claim by the head of the U.S. NRC that the fuel storage ponds at at least one (two?) of the reactors is dry. The U.S. has refused to back down on this claim, and the Japanese have flatly refuted it. They can’t both be right.
5. The Obama appointed head of the U.S. NRC has a carefully scrubbed Internet profile, but we know he is heavily anti-nuclear (for instance, he was a key player in blocking nuclear waste disposal in Nevada). It is entirely possible that his personal biases have influenced his public statements. If so, I hope someone in the Obama administration wakes up enough to realize the things he is saying will damage U.S./Japan relations in the future (assuming they even care).
6. Side Note: High profile disagreement at the national level should not be happening, especially between the U.S. and Japan. A competent administration would not let this happen. We should shut up if we disagree, at least for now. This is not the time for the U.S. government to cast public doubt on the actions of the Japanese government, even if we think they are screwing up.
7. I certainly hope the Japanese have been doing a lot of things they have simply failed to communicate to the public. In particular, I would like to think restoring access to outside power will help, but I must admit I am very skeptical that this will help on anything other than reactors 5 and 6.
8. I also have a general question related to outside power: If the problem all along has been lack of outside power, then why weren’t generators, fuel, and enough manpower to get them going airlifted in days ago?
8a. The cooling systems on reactors 5 and 6 are currently being run by an outside generator. Details are hard to come by, but apparently this generator was brought in after the Tsunami wiped out all the generators originally on site. If they could bring in one, why not more?
8b. If they failed to bring in enough generators days ago because no one asked for them, or the request was denied, then incompetence reins supreme at multiple levels. Unfortunately, given how poor communications have been, you have to wonder if this might actually be the reason...
8c. Perhaps generators were not brought in due to incompetence, but there really is enough intact equipment left to actually bring this thing under control if only power were available. If so, then there may be a shot at bringing this thing under control “soon”, once outside power is available.
8d. If it was not incompetence then perhaps they failed to bring in more generators because they did not think they would do any good. If so, then I fail to see how hooking up to outside power will do much good now either (other than stabilizing power to reactors 5 and 6).
I doubt that. Maybe they just need a lot of power, and not nursing the generators (and carting around the BATTERIES) will take one problem off the table. Also, depending on the transmission disance, many high voltage will allow them to get electricity to places that they have had to cart batteries.
For those of you who haven't ever been in a real crisis control situation, here are a couple of facts you may find of interest. I'll make these REAL SIMPLE so even the Sheperd Smiths of the world can understand them.
1. The people most in-the-know of what's going on and how to fix it are the people on-site directly involved with overcoming the difficulties.
2. For the people in-the-know to communicate the minute details to their superiors and management requires them to spend time.
3. The time that the people in-the-know spend explaining to management what's going on and what needs to be done TAKES THEM AWAY FROM FIXING THE PROBLEM!
4. The time away from fixing the problem in a critical situation such as this means that it takes much longer to fix than it otherwise would.
5. When one is working pretty much around the clock, there is a need for occasional rest and recuperation. Having only 0 to 4 hours of sleep each 24 hour period causes loss of functionality - and the older one gets, the more severe impact it has.
6. The time making explanations not only takes them away from fixing the problem, but it also means they can't get the rest they need throughout the process.
7. I personally want them to be left alone so they can get it fixed. The only explanations necessary to be communicated to management are those that will provide explanations only to a level of detail necessary to communicate what may be needed to get it done.
Well scummy General Electric said they had gas turbine back up power in the US they were ready to ship. It should have been air cargoed overnight on IL-76 choppers.
They could have done hot drop using a C-17 that could dusted off. This is when Hillary said the Air Force delivered cooant. She knows about hot drops in war torn areas in C-130 while taking incoming fire and RPGs.
They could have used chinooks and Russian heavy lift choppers to get those gas turbine powerplants there..
GE is a scum company with their defective reactors. A Obama TARP company.
GE was busy spending their TARP money on hookers.
Actually I’ve been following NHK and live translating the whole affair since it began on justin.tv, and I can definitively say that TEPCO and the government have done a decent job explaining what is happening (revealing radiation levels/containment unit pressures/etc.).
The problem has been “experts” who are against nuclear energy screaming from the hilltops that we’re all going to die. The American press is ignoring the honest, yet “bland” information coming out of Japan and jumping immediately on information that shocks and stirs emotions.
Example (March 15th):
NHK - “We gave the workers 45 minutes time away from the plants so that they could get some rest.”
Drudgereport and other outlets: “NUCLEAR WORKERS EVACUATED”
I kid you not. It’s silly.
Wow, are you sure you can’t get one more What If outta a lack of facts?
All good questions and in the absence of equally good answers one has to suspect there aren’t any good answers and that the truth is ... additional generators would not have done any good, though I wondered from the outset why they were not airlifted in VERY early if they would have done anything good.
Obastard doesn’t care about relations or the truth, only his smarmy agenda.