We shouldn't have another nuclear catastrophe to realize there are better, much safer ways to make electricity.
In the aftermath of the largest earthquake to occur in Japan in recorded history, thousands of residents living within 12 miles of six reactors at the Fukushima nuclear station have been advised to evacuate and people living within 15 miles of the plant are advised to remain indoors.
Plant operators have not been able to cool down the core of at least two reactors containing enormous amounts of radioactivity because of failed back-up diesel generators required for the emergency cooling. In a race against time, the power company and the Japanese military are flying in more than a dozen emergency generators. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton announced yesterday that the U.S. Air Force has provided cooling water for the troubled reactors. Complicating matters, Japan's Meteorological Agency has declared the area to be at high risk of being hit by a tsunami.
The plants were operating at full power when the quake hit and even though control rods were automatically inserted to halt the nuclear reaction, the reactor cores remains very hot. Even with a fully functioning emergency core cooling system, it would take 24 to 48 hours for the reactor cores to cool and stabilize. If emergency cooling isn't restored, the risks of a core melt, and release of radioactivity into the environment is significantly increased. Also, it's not clear if piping and electrically distribution systems inside the plants have been damaged. If so, that would interfere with reactor cooling. The government's nuclear safety agency has reported that radiation levels in one of the reactor control have made it making it virtually uninhabitable.
Early on Japanese nuclear officials provided reassurances that no radiation has been released.
Unfortunately, a large explosion destroyed the reactor building at unit 1, which might be due to the generation of hydrogen from overheated fuel cladding. Significantly, higher radiation levels are also being reported at the plant boundary -- large enough to prompt a major evacuation over a large area in the U.S. The presences of cesium-137, is clear evidence that radioactive fuel debris is escaping into the environment. These events point strongly to a reactor core melt. Radiation levels at the site are about 10,000 times above normal.
In a desperate effort, reactor operators are attempting to divert and pump seawater into the reactor. Even if the reactor remains intact, the Fukushima explosion indicates that the containment has failed and there is now a direct path for radioactive releases directly into the environment. According to Arnie Gunderson, a former U.S. nuclear power plant operator: "events over the last day indicate that volatile radioactive elements such as xenon, krypton, cesium, iodine, and strontium are already being released from the Fufushima nuclear reactor. The fuel rods have lost their integrity and, EVEN IF the reactor maintains its integrity, [radioactive materials] are being released into the environment through open relief valves on top of the reactor. Whether or not there is a meltdown, enormous quantities of radioactive gases will continue to be released through the failed nuclear fuel."
But the devastating Japanese quake and its outcome could generate a political tsunami here in the United States. For instance, in California it may become impossible for the owners of the San Onofre and Diablo Canyon reactors to extend their operating licenses with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The quake is also likely to further deflate the "nuclear renaissance" balloon.
These two reactors are sitting in high seismic risk zones near earthquake faults. Each is designed to withstand a quake as great as 7.5 on the Richter scale. According to many seismologists, the probability of a major earthquake in the California coastal zone in the foreseeable future is a near certainty. The U.S. Geological Survey reports the largest registering 8.3 on the Richter scale devastated San Francisco in 1906.
"There have been tremblers felt at U.S. plants over the past several years, but nothing approaching the need for emergency action," reported Scott Burnell, a spokesman at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Reuters today.
As the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe approaches next month, the earthquakes in Japan serve as a reminder of the extreme risks of nuclear power, when things go seriously wrong. The Chernobyl accident required nearly a million emergency responders and cleanup workers. More than 100,000 residents from 187 settlements were permanently evacuated because of radioactive contamination. And an area equal to half of the State of New Jersey was rendered uninhabitable.
The U.S. and Japanese reactors have extra measures of protection that were lacking at Chernobyl, such as a secondary concrete containment structure over the reactor vessel to prevent escape of radioactivity. In 1979, the containment structure at the Three Mile Island reactor did prevent the escape of a catastrophic amount of radioactivity after the core melted. But, people living nearby were exposed to higher levels of radiation from the accident and deliberate venting to stabilize the reactor. Also, within one hour the multi-billion dollar investment in that plant went down the drain.
In the meanwhile, prospects to cool down the cores of the Japanese reactors are dimming. We shouldn't have another nuclear catastrophe to realize there are better, much safer ways to make electricity.
Robert Alvarez: Meltdowns Grow More Likely at the Fukushima Reactors
I worked in solar energy and realized it generates miniscule energy; the only people who can afford solar energy are rich folks with specially constructed architectural houses.
Wind power? ok, who is stopping that? Let me ask you this, can you live without electricity for say one week? How would you blog??
Fiscal experts, Academia, political-financial think tanks, Globalization, etc., have created a world financial-economic order that is in disintegration. Cut backs and austerity is all we hear from these "authorities". The results are a very vulnerable population subject to the danger of deterioration of the public's physical infrastructure.
The Fukushima accident/malfunction caused by an magnitude 8 earthquake, is being exploited. The facility is under control. New 4th generation nuclear facilities, that burns its' waste, is easily shut down, must be installed throughout the United States, as we can see what happens when we become concerned about costs, without the input of the bigger picture.
The United States must activate its' economic platforms, create the necessary higher order of existence humanity demands; The Nuclear Fueled Energy Economy, the Hydrogen Economy will undergird economic recovery. Construct the interstate maglev rail system, Construct the water harvesting and distribution system proposed in the NAWAPA plan. These measures and more will employ 7-8 million Americans, reversing our crisis.
Economic recovery can be replicated throughout the world,saving and elevating humanity.
If containment was lost I would have expected a steam explosion at the time of the breach, not a day or so later.
My guess is that structural damage to the buildings from the earthquake caused water leakage from the spent fuel ponds. If not, later explosions did, although a BBC writer suggested the Tepco operators may have "stolen" water from the spent fuel ponds to try and cool the reactors.
My belief is that the reactor explosions were steam / loss of containment explosions, not hydrogen venting explosions, as we've been led to believe.
GE pays pretty good I would think.
What is the "fallout" from solar energy?
How much will it cost compared to the above?
Hmmm ...
http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~ward/papers/La_Palma_grl.pdf
click link, then search La Palma for studies.
http://www.rense.com/general56/tsu.htm
The Indian Point nuclear plant is sited on the Hudson River estuary 35 miles north of mid-town NYC. If a mega-tsunami were to hit the east coast it would be channeled and magnified into the Hudson and up to Indian Point, that also sits nearly on top of the Ramapo Fault; the combination of location and potential mega-tsunami are an unacceptable risk to millions; the plant should be de-commissioned now. Obviously other nuclear plants would be hit by this potential Mega-tsunami as well.
How much longer will our leaders remain blind to this threat? How much longer will the nuclear industry be allowed to hide facts, raise limits of what is "considered" dangerous levels of radioactive exposure, and influence the supposed nuclear watch-dog (more like lap-dog), the NRC, to their advantage at great risk to the public?
http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/living-on-the-fault-line.html
http://www.radiation.org/press/pressrelease091116indianpointthyroid.pdf
"a landmark study on the 1979 Three Mile Island radiation release has found that people near the nuclear reactor are suffering from extremely high rates of cancer"; a 600-700% increase in leukemias. http://www.albionmonitor.com/9703a/3milecancer.html
The Indian Point nuclear plant on the Hudson River in NY Indian Point, 35 miles north of NYC, is leaking radioactive water into a huge pool underground, into the groundwater & Hudson River, and there has been an “epidemic of thyroid cancer rates” in people living near the plant.
http://www.ipsecinfo.org/Leak_Sept_2005.htm
http://www.radiation.org/press/pressrelease091116indianpointthyroid.pdf
Maybe we need to look at some of these newer safer technologies before wasting billions and billions of dollars on something that we can't be sure won't have huge repurcussions down the road.
Check this out
.http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Andrea_A._Rossi_Cold_Fusion_Generator
And now we have people assuring us that corporations with limited budgets and driven to make a profit can exceed the capabilities of NASA while ensuring safety and profitability?
compare it to the return on your 401k over the past 15 years. to the return on your car, or, for most people nowadays, the return on their homes. what's the return on those $250 blue jeans? that bottle of wine? rooftop solar is about the only purchase people look at and demand "payback" on - this is a function of DECADES OF BIG ENERGY PROPAGANDA, nothing else.
it's just ridiculous to be talking about widespread radiation poisoning, power outages that will lead to thousands of DEATHS, dead miners/drillers, permanently destroyed ecosystems, poisoned drinking water, airborne pollution, etc. and say "rooftop solar is expensive."
And that is why almost all installs are being thwarted now. The power companies are trying to stop the end of their monopoly.
BTW, Stanford University produced the first Full Light Spectrum solar cells last week. These panels will produce 3 or 4 time the power of the house where they're installed.
Nyah.
Considering this very recent history, I wonder if these things will ever be built strong enough.
New Zealand 2-21-2011 6.3 Magnitude
New Zealand 9-04-2010 7.1 Magnitude
SouthWest Pakistan 1-19-2011 7.2 Magnitude
San Francisco Bay Area 1989 6.9 Magnitude
San Francisco Earthquake 1906 8.0 Magnitude
Sumatra Earthquake (Indonesia), 2007 8.5 Magnitude
Valdivia Earthquake(Chile), 1960 9.5 Magnitude
10.0 Magnitude Never Recorded
Maybe we should build nuclear plants to withstand 20 Magnitude quakes.
Regions to consider would be off Columbia and Peru where you have a nice subducting plate in combination with some nice rivers to add sediment.
Enviro-groups will predictably leverage the new enviro-hysteria of “Fukushima” to stop the expansion of nuclear power in America. Just as they have used the examples of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island as pejoratives against the U.S.’s current 104 nuclear power plants that provide about 18% of our electricity. Nuclear power expansion is necessary in America for economic, security and environmental reasons. The energy from one pound of uranium is equivalent to 1.3 million pounds of coal energy. Nuclear power produces none of the greenhouse gases associated with global warming.
Just as the “green screams” of “BP” demonized our oil production and oil independence, listen for the next enviro-groups’ rallying cries of “Fukushima” to demonize our nuclear energy production and energy independence.
Did you here that 200,000 people were evacuated from areas surrounding a wind farm in the Northeast due to static electricity fears? Or, did you here about the 100,000 people evacuated in the Southwest because the solar farm is overheating? The antithesis of you lame green comments is the onslaught of nuclear minimizers coming from industry sycophant's such as yourself - especially when no one is certain of the outcome from the Japanese nuclear plants. To start the minimization parade at this juncture is typical of the nuclear industry vying for massive government subsidies to build toxic power plants.
America can neither afford this boondoggle technology nor does it need it for environmental reasons when energy efficiency could eliminate 60 percent or better of our electrical needs. In addition, we have in excess of 236,000 megawatts of spare capacity in the U.S. right now. All of the nuclear and coal fired power plants could be phased out through energy efficiency, conservation, combined heat power, solar, wind, geothermal and fuel cells. None of these technologies require mass evacuations even as a precautionary measure.
Where do you suppose the 200,000 evacuated Japanese have been moved to in light of the destruction associated with the quake and tsunami. Obviously, you see this dislocation as a mere inconvenience to a country reeling from disaster. If the reactors do have a complete meltdown, they wont be coming back to Fukushima to live.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-wasserman/people-died-at-three-mile_b_179588.html
The Three Mile Island disaster caused increased cancer & deaths; with leukemia rates up 600-700%: "a landmark study on the 1979 Three Mile Island radiation release has found that people near the nuclear reactor are suffering from extremely high rates of cancer". http://www.albionmonitor.com/9703a/3milecancer.html
Ridiculing anti-nuclear truths and activists will not change the facts that nuclear power production is deadly to man, animal life, and the environment, and costs much more when all is taken into account than changing to sustainable non-lethal, environmentally damaging/destroying forms that have been pushed for profit at the expense of people.