[piytar]

Kniow you weren’t asking me, but with the Hyperion design, it’s self-contained. No water in, no pumping, no water out. Nothing. Unless you literally blow it up with large explosives, it will be OK.

Then there’s the pebble bed reactor. The pebbles are graphite balls with unranium impregnated into them sealed by ceramic. That’s a passive safety design, the key word being “passive.” Even if you drain all the water, you don’t get a meltdown. Nasty hot, but no meltdown, and the ceramic is sufficiently heat resistant to withstand the heat.

The difference between modern designs and 40 year old ones is like the difference between fighter planes in WWII and fighters today.

But will that matter in the LSM? And therefore the dumbed-down voting public? Probably not...

[GonzoGOP]

Then there’s the pebble bed reactor. The pebbles are graphite balls with uranium impregnated into them sealed by ceramic. That’s a passive safety design, the key word being “passive.” Even if you drain all the water, you don’t get a meltdown. Nasty hot, but no meltdown, and the ceramic is sufficiently heat resistant to withstand the heat.

That is the irony of the anti nuke groups. By preventing the building of new plants they force the power companies to keep the older, and less safe, plants on line.

And safety is not just measured in bodies. Economic costs have to be kept in mind. Even if the Japanese get out of this with nobody killed (did they find those four missing workers from earlier in the day) it will still be a massively expensive cleanup. TMI cost 2.5 billion dollars when adjusted for inflation. TMI didn't kill anyone either, and it never broke containment. So a minimum they will have four TMI type damaged reactors to clean up. I know darknight doesn't see any problems here but a minimum $10 billion dollar cleanup on top of all the other quake / tsunami damage is going to be a real drain on the Japanese economy. And it wasn't in great shape before any of this happened.

[TXnMA]

"But will that matter in the LSM? And therefore the dumbed-down voting public? Probably not..."

Dumbed down? For verification of your statement, just read this thread ...