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14 Mar 2011 10:48

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World: Fukushima evacuees: Reactor trouble completely unexpected

  • It said we had to go to the town hall to evacuate because there was trouble at reactor No. 1. I left with just my purse and the clothes I was wearing.
  • Fukushima nuclear plant employee Yoshiko Watanabe • Describing what happened when she found out the plant was first having trouble on Saturday. Since then, she and others have been sleeping on the floor at a school in the city of Iwaki.  She and other residents of Narahama are among the 200,000 people who have been forced from their homes by the situation at Fukushima. The town had no plan for anything like this and was caught off-guard. That’s because the reactor was made to withstand a quake, but not a tsunami. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Mar 2011 11:53

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World: Laymen’s terms: Fukushima withstood the quake, not the tsunami

  • Reactors have been designed with such [earthquake] concerns in mind, but preliminary assessments of the Fukushima Daiichi accidents suggested that too little attention was paid to the threat of tsunami. It appeared that the reactors withstood the powerful earthquake, but the ocean waves damaged generators and backup systems, harming the ability to cool the reactors.
  • A piece from the New York Times • Explaining what appears to have happened, calmly and simply, with the current nuclear crisis. Overall, the effect is that Japan’s precautionary methods for nuclear plants were successful in what they were designed to do. The problem is, the design of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant didn’t anticipate something far different. Which is why the current situation has escalated. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Mar 2011 00:28

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World: Japan quake: Nuclear energy could fall out of favor again, maybe

  • then After a period where nuclear power gained popularity, Three Mile Island, green groups and the movie “The China Syndrome” helped hurt the reputation of the power source.
  • now With a higher focus on safety, the risk of danger is much lower and growth has returned – but trouble in Japan could once again turn popular favor against it. source
  • » Two sides, two arguments: Green groups AND nuclear advocates have their talking points here – groups in favor of nuclear energy say the precaution prevented a much worse situation with the Fukushima reactors. Green groups say any leak of radioactive gas proves the dangers are too high. Of course, if this happens, it kinda throws everything out the window.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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