The Future of Nukes, and of Japan

Wall Street Journal ^ | MARCH 15, 2011 | HOLMAN W. JENKINS, JR

[Scanian]

You can't beat for drama the struggle of Japanese operators to manage the emergency cool-down of nuclear reactors in the tsunami zone. For the things that matter most, though—life and safety—the nuclear battle has been a sideshow. Hundreds were feared dead when entire trains went missing. Whole villages were wiped out with the loss of thousands of inhabitants. So far one worker at one nuclear plant is known to have died in a hydrogen explosion and several others have exhibited symptoms of radiation poisoning.

As for environmental degradation, video testifies to the brown murk that the tsunami waters became when they crossed into land. An infinity of contaminants—sewage, fuels, lubricants, cleaning solvents—have been scattered across the Earth and into aquifers. Radiation releases, meanwhile, haven't been a serious threat to anyone but the plant's brave workers.

Just under a decade ago, when Americans were worried about the vulnerability of nuclear plants to deliberate terrorist destruction, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Nils Diaz gave a notable speech: "In general, I do not believe nuclear power is being portrayed in a balanced manner. . . . This is probably the fault of all of us who know better since there have been strong currents for not mentioning consequences [of nuclear accidents] out loud."

[Berlin_Freeper]

Another disaster Japan is facing is that it has a mostly old and decayed society, which will make the recovery greatly limited.

Old people do not have the energy or the mentality to help drive a recovery. And the few young people they have are drawn to Tokyo where they mostly sit on their butts smoking the pot and watching music videos.

Good luck with that.

[Scanian]

“Old people do not have the energy or the mentality to help drive a recovery.”

Whoa! I resemble that remark!

[Berlin_Freeper]

it's not personal, it is a math thing. When your pool of young people is small then needing them for a national recovery is a problem. Then add in all the frivolous interests that occupy their time and you really get screwed.

[bill1952]

>Old people do not have the energy or the mentality to help drive a recovery.

and certain younger folks that write such nonsense do not have the brains that God gave a goose.

[Cololeo]

Keep pi$$ing me off and you’ll see what kind of energy I have left.

[SpaceBar]

Unlike the US that will go into a decades long moratorium and hand wringing session, the Japanese will analyze where mistakes were made, draw up new safety procedures, upgrade their technology and move on.

[RayChuang88]

In short, it's time to seriously look at phasing out pressurized water reactors (PWR's) over the next 15-20 years because of the dangers of these reactors if the coolant flow is cut off.

A new reactor type, the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR), researched and developed since the late 1950's, avoids the need for a pressurized reactor vessel and you can quickly "dump" the fuel in case of any emergency to stop the reaction altogether. Several pilot test reactors have been built around the world, and we may see the first commercial operational unit in the next 4-5 years.

[newzjunkey]

The Japanese reactors "in danger" are BWR (Boiling Water Reactor), not PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor). PWR are considered "2nd generation" and what most of our reactors are.

I don't see how any effort needs to be undertaken to phase PWR reactors out quicker than their designed life span just because of a situation in Japan caused by a 9.0 earthquake (4th biggest on record) and a 30ft tsunami which disrupted main power and rendered all backup generators inoperable and destroyed infrastructure making it very hard to provide replacement power.

Obviously, safety procedures should be reviewed but moving reactors to scrap, motivated on a one off cataclysmic event that may only be possible in Japan, seems alarmist and foolish. We haven't had a new nuclear plant go online since 1974 and we better start building and, if somehow we did-- although I believe it's politically impossible in the U.S.--those will naturally be newer designs, perhaps even LFTR like the Chinese are interested in.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

I regret this, but I bet that Japan will recover before the New York World Trade Center is completed and re-opened for business. (I now wonder if I should complete the post)
Yup.