• 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 • Permalink