“But I think they’ve figured out not to build on a fault line.”
I don’t know if the plant is “on a fault line” or not, but earthquake damage had nothing to do with the problems there. What caused them was the tsunami, which knocked out power used to circulate coolant.
There were backup generators, but the real failure in planning was not storing them in watertight bunkers. If that simple precaution had been taken, there would have been no release of radioactive material.
Even then, backup generators were brought in before things went south - sadly the connectors on those generators weren’t the right type. The rest is history.
“I suspect they’ve had enough of nukes”
Perhaps. Japan is of course extra sensitive about nuclear, as the only country ever to get hit by nuclear weapons in anger.
Looking forward though, nuclear power is an extremely important strategic capability. Perhaps LENR will pan out, but if not it’s critical that the US lead on nuclear power. The Chinese are investing heavily.
BTW, thorium based nuclear power has many advantages over U/Pu generated power. There’s a great deal of research going into it at the present time.
One last fact for you - of the powers that possess nuclear weapons, the US is the only one that presently cannot produce new plutonium “pits” - the key component to making nuclear weapons.
They are safe. anyone who says they’re not is a loon. And let’s bring up Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just for aggression.
I will say, I have noticed, since the late 1970s when Long Island Lighting Company demanded the same trust of the locals that you demand of all American nuclear plant constructors, their supporters and all those who say nuclear power is safe, that there is an aggression and a condescending tone. Rush takes it on. All the Long Island boys who supported it (and lost handily) I remember them. Very nasty and aggressive, like you.
In fact watch this argument go on for days, with a nastier tone.
Meanwhile, Shoreham Nuke plant sits vacant. No one was able to win over the protectors of that region with their bullying.
Those housewives were content to put up with aggressive bullies, if it meant they would never have to worry about the incompetence of the people they’d worked with for generations and know how far they could be trusted to not cut corners.
so, you really ought to save your effort.
I know how these discussions go, and I imagine you’ll say you have different info than today’s issue of the Telegraph, but you’ll only solidify the decades old argument that pride, arrogance and condescension are no match for the corruption, money, and corner cutting that rules in constructing these plants.
BTW, they can’t even get in it to investigate, two years later. Death toll?
Telegraph.co.uk
Sunday 26 January 2014
Japan
Japanese nuclear plant ‘sitting on active fault line’
The operator of Japan’s Tsuruga nuclear power plant may be ordered to decommission the facility after seismologists confirmed that it sits directly atop an active fault line.
The operator of Japan’s Tsuruga nuclear power plant may be ordered to decommission the facility after seismologists confirmed that it sits directly atop an active fault line.
The Tsuruga nuclear power plant 200 miles west of Tokyo Photo: AP
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
6:12AM GMT 11 Dec 2012
If regulatory authorities do order Japan Atomic Power Co. to shut down the plant, it would be the first permanent closure of a nuclear facility since the Fukushima power plant was crippled by a tsunami triggered by last year’s magnitude-9 earthquake.
Tuesday marked 21 months to the day since the second-worst nuclear accident in history, with emergency teams still attempting to limit the damage caused by radiation leaks from four of the Fukushima plant’s reactors.
The disaster prompted a closer inspection of the nation’s nuclear facilities, with the Nuclear Regulation Authority confirming on Monday that an active fault is below the No. 2 reactor at the plant, in the central Japan prefecture of Fukui.
The No. 1 reactor at Tsuruga is the oldest commercial reactor in Japan and Japan Atomic Power Co. had announced planned to construct two new reactors at the site, before the Fukushima disaster.
Announcing the findings of the NRA’s research, Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the NRA, said, “We cannot conduct safety checks for the Tsuruga reactors to restart at this point.”