Fukushima Funhouse Tests Technique, Predictions, Nerves
http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/william-boardman/52743/fukushima-funhouse-tests-technique-predictions-nerves
Fukushima Funhouse Tests Technique, Predictions, Nerves
by William Boardman | November 17, 2013 - 9:37am
Soon enough, if it hasnt started already, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) will begin removing the first of more than 1,500 fuel assemblies from the Fukushima Unit 4 fuel pool that sits about 100 feet above the ground. Each assembly contains 50-70 radioactive fuel rods. If this removal procedure goes seriously awry or the plant is hit by another major earthquake, some scientists say, Its bye-bye Japan and everyone on the west coast of North America should evacuate.
Fukushima is a continuing disaster, and the Japanese havent done that great a job keeping it from getting worse, but thats not the bad news. The bad news is that nobody else in the world has a much better idea about what to do, and even less of an idea of how to do it, and thats why the stampede of global rescue workers rushing to Japan isnt happening now and isnt likely to happen soon.
Fulminating over Fukushima is fun for the whole family, and lord knows theres plenty to fulminate about, but when all the fulminating and fear-mongering and freak-out fomenting is done, the deteriorating disaster that is Fukushima continues to deteriorate unaffected. The only likely effect of the fussing is further deterioration of the ability to think clearly about a situation in which the future is even more unknowable and uncontrollable than the future usually is.
And now its turning out that nuclear power will also contribute to climate change, indirectly, at least in the short run, because Japan has announced that it cant afford to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as much as promised, because taking care of Fukushima is too expensive and has led to a shutdown of all the rest of Japans nuclear power plants. In the short term at least, Japan will rely more on electricity produced by coal, oil, and gas-burning power plants.