Posted on 03/18/2011 8:33:18 AM PDT by crosstimbers
From the BBC:
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, quoting a senior official of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, said the US made the offer immediately after the disaster damaged Fukushima No 1 nuclear plant. According to the unnamed senior official, US support was based on dismantling the troubled reactors run by Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) some 250 km (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo. However, the government and TEPCO thought the cooling system could be restored by themselves, the report said. (Another source: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_646444.html)
Am I reading this right?
Our government demanded that the Japanese dismantle - that is, permanently remove - over five gigawatts of power in order to help them with a critical safety problem that had the potential to destroy 100 square miles of land and kill or injure thousands of people?
That as compensation for helping them we demanded that they cripple their electrical generating capacity on a permanent basis?
You have to be kidding me.
This is an extremely serious charge. If it's true it stands alone as grounds for impeachment and dismembering every single federal agency involved.
Perhaps this explains why the US Military and/or civilian authorities didn't stick a couple of big-ass generators on a transport plane and get them over there, restoring power to the reactors within hours of the incident and avoiding all of the serious radiation and physical damage at the plant.
(Excerpt) Read more at market-ticker.org ...
lol. The article in 2004 would have been Japan’s Nuclear problem, is President Bush partly to blame. What a crock. Presidents today get blamed for everything. Sarah better get used to it.
The list, ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
Truely, this man is the son of Satan.
I have been puzzled as to why the US never flew in some big diesel gens and large storage tanks filled with fuel to get (hopefully) cooling pumps back on line. As well, the US could have (it seems) flown in large pumps on skids that could be coupled to diesels on skids with suction piping running to the nearby coast.
I would think that big C5 airlift assets could have been deployed very quickly.
How the heck do I know though? I have only been working in the Oil, Gas and Mining industry for 30 years. Know a little bit about portable high capacity pumps and drive systems
I think the media acted up so much because they couldn’t get Obama’s attention on how serious the Nuclear crisis in Japan is...
Truly!
Toshiba, which was once close to General Electric, are now the owners of Westinghouse Nuclear, GE's main competitor. They have arguably the best nuclear engineers in the world. Westinghouse's offers to send expert assistance have been refused by both TEPCO and General Electric without comment.
I believe the offers to help are sincere and not motivated by any ulterior motives such as industrial espionage. The refusal of TEPCO and General Electric to accept this assistance is baffling.
Absolutely!
Yes, you're right.
Considering this report of Japans request for help,
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_646523.html
it kinda sorta makes sense, suggesting Japan has
abandoned all hope of salvaging any part of the plant.
It’s also characteristic ‘bam diplomacy.
What, you think there's not a single functioning generator anywhere in Japan? From the NY Times:
Christopher D. Wilson, a reactor operator and later a manager at Exelon’s Oyster Creek plant, near Toms River, N.J., said, “normally you would just re-establish electricity supply, from the on-site diesel generator or a portable one.” Portable generators have been brought into Fukushima, he said.Fukushima was designed by General Electric, as Oyster Creek was around the same time, and the two plants are similar. The problem, he said, was that the hookup is done through electric switching equipment that is in a basement room flooded by the tsunami, he said. “Even though you have generators on site, you have to get the water out of the basement,” he said.
It's Bush's fault.
This is essentally from the same playbook the Obamites used in the BP Gulf blowout. Instead of solving the problem they sought to exploit the crisis to advance their radical agenda.[ “never let a crisis go to waste”]
#16, exactly true. There is no other explaination for how little has been done about both the nuke problem and the suffering of the people.
Westinghouse nuclear technology and expertise is superior to GE. Always has been superior.
We have pumps that will move 400,000 gallons per minute or per hour. We used them in Katrina to dry out NO.
I used minute or hour because I don’t remember the rate other than that I went GACK!!! when I heard it. It was awesome.
Just a few guesses here but with the basement flooded, pumping it to access the electrical panel may not have been feasible due to retreating tsunami waters still covering the vents.
Another guess here but the basement might also be filled with mud and debris. Crews would have to use water jets to clear a way in and even larger pumps to remove the mud and water. Who knows what manner of hardened doors might also be in the way?
Seventy years ago, the Germans figured out how to enable large diesel engines to operate below water. I can understand the incompetence and graft behind critical backup power sources being located in the basements of New Orleans government buildings.
However, I cannot understand how at a coastal nuclear power plant, critical backup power was located in a non-water tight basement?
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