Japanese Finally admit leak will kill people...head of plant breaks down in tears

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander

My concerns are for the Japanese people's interests. Your concerns are for protecting the feelings of the ones who have failed the Japanese people.

Duly noted.

Originally posted by Frontkjemper
This is why we need to abandon nuclear energy as it stands today! It's too dangerous and can seriously muck things up! It's time we take in mind the alternatives, like Thorium.

I don't think the current moment, in the midst of a disaster, is the best time to decide future energy policy.

I find your logic curious ... based on your risk/benefit parameters, automobiles should have been banned from the start. It's likely that far few individuals were injured riding horses/carriages than have been killed in auto accidents, not to mention hydrocarbon emitions.

i personally love solar enegy but even there you're dealing with rare earth minerals (mining). Incidentally, the Chinese are in the process of cornering the world market in that regaerd.

I live in Japan. I live far from the reactors and I'm in no real danger here.

For the most part I've been collecting info from many sources (a lot from here) so I can understand and be able to make informed choices so I can be useful to myself and those I am in contact with.

I DO want to add my piece about the miscreants who should have been responsible.

Tears don't cut any slack with me any more. Tears might have fooled me ten or twenty years ago by people in Japan in positions of responsibility but not these days.

Of course they are sorry. But The ones who made and are making money out of the mess are probably not the ones apologising and they won't get their wrists slapped.

It's criminal negligence at the highest level and heads should roll.

Though from experience I feel there is little or no chance of those ultimately responsible for the delays which allowed this disaster to become a catastrophy being held accounted for and punished accordingly, that's what I hope will happen.

The ones at the top influencing the emergency response ought to be publicly hanged and their punishment seen to be a warning for the rest of the corrupt political elite to encourage them to serve their electorate instead of corporate sponsors.

Now waiting for the whitewash.

Originally posted by prolific


You do realize the plant was built about 40 years ago and was designed for a less of scenario than the one currently provided? If it was built in today's standards, this would be a whole different situation.

the ESBWR, considered a very safe design which should last 72 hours without operator input would have run out of coolant 4 days ago. of course, the containment is way better, too, so the explosions and at least the spent fuel pool woes would have been avoided.

thinking about it, restarting one unit might have been a narrow way out, but i'm very likely totally off.

I would like to send out an "air" hug to everyone who will be affected by this, as we are all trapped on this planet with nowhere to go, much like a snow globe it doesnt matter where we are, we are all in this together, these events should be a reminder.
I absolutely love Japan, and the Japanese, it leads me to abhorrence, this series of predictable trageties.
Off topic but relevant, I always wanted to marry a geisha, sigh.
Peace of mind to you all.

reply to post by harrytuttle


Whatever. Coming from a guy who thinks its cute to author threads on whether or not Japan is a good place for a zombie apocalypse while they are still in horrific and miserable circumstances your claim of deep sympathy for the people of Japan and their plight just falls flat.

You are concerned with you.

Edit: I am sorry, I meant to post this in a different thread. I will leave it up because it is not entirely off topic. The emotion captured in the picture of the head of the plant is heartbreaking. I hope he has the strength to persevere. My heart goes out to all those feeling the effects of this disaster.
----------------------------------------------------

Like many posters here I recently became interested in nuclear safety. It turns out I have been living on the brink of environmental disaster all my life and I had no idea until a few days ago.

I live relatively close to the Hanford nuclear site. That place is already a disaster. While it was in operation contamination was released for years. The full extent of this pollution was not known until the 1980s when citizens forced the release of documents.

Today, there is a large amount of radioactive waste making its way toward the Columbia River. Let me rephrase that.. there is ONE MILLION GALLONS of radioactive waste traveling underground toward the Columbia River.

The weapons production reactors were decommissioned at the end of the Cold War, but the manufacturing process left behind 53 million U.S. gallons

(204,000 m³) of high-level radioactive waste that remains at the site. This represents two-thirds of the nation's high-level radioactive waste by volume.

This waste was put in to single shell containers for indefinite storage. However, many of them broke releasing the waste.

Furthermore..

As of 2008, 1 million U.S. gallons (4,000 m3) of highly radioactive waste is traveling through the groundwater toward the Columbia River. This waste is expected to reach the river in 12 to 50 years if cleanup does not proceed on schedule.

Source: Wiki: Hanford Site

They are already far behind schedule.

I imagine even a minor seismic event could allow this pollution to travel faster.

reply to post by Leo Strauss


The reactor was perfectly safe. GE is not to blame. I still endorse GE and all their products. They are the best product company out there. You must blame nature, don't lay the blame just because GE is mortal, has a face, or can be sued. Lay blame where it belongs and that is nature.

reply to post by nithaiah


Those death counts are although official more than faked. You just have to look at the Tschernobyl accident. According to official data 56 ppl died due to this accident. In reality there were thousands killed through the radioactivity and still will in the future.
If you look at the real counts (that never will be official) nuclear power is on top of the list (death per kw).

Originally posted by nithaiah

tl;dr: Nuclear kills fewer people than wind turbines.

I'm not sure which universe equates fewer deaths with increased danger, but...well, in that universe yeah, nuclear is super duper unsafe.

Did those wind turbines kill the people who work on them; or do they kill the people who live near them? That makes a world of difference in my universe. Did those wind turbines ruin the environment for generations?

reply to post by JohnnyTHSeed


Mostly people working on them. But the cost in human life SHOULD include those working in the industry. Because cost in human life is cost in human life. The oil figures should include all the people we murder to get their oil, too, imho.

www.wind-works.org...

No matter what has happened, who is going to want to build, let alone work, let alone live, anywhere near where a nuclear reactor has had a meltdown. Personally, I think it is amazing how certain people have been able to provide or give updates or information that the MSM is not giving the gen public.

My heart goes out to the next 3 generations of Japanese who will have to work to rebuild their nation that suffered at once a 9.0 earthquake, a tsunami of incredible proportion and a 4 reactor level 5 emergency.... and still there are no sports stadiums becoming Mad Max's Thunderdome...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a52e7272336e.jpg[/atsimg]

I am so sorry for his pain and suffering, this man needs our prayers and healing energy.

Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
reply to post by Leo Strauss

 

The reactor was perfectly safe. GE is not to blame. I still endorse GE and all their products. They are the best product company out there. You must blame nature, don't lay the blame just because GE is mortal, has a face, or can be sued. Lay blame where it belongs and that is nature.

So not only was the reactor "safe" it was "perfectly safe"? You should let the Japanese people know they are afraid right now for some reason. In fact the head of the company here just broke down crying in misery because he seems to think the Japanese people are in danger. You should let him know it will cheer him up.

reply to post by antar


I agree, for everyone laying blame and having nasty things to say I really wish you would take a step back and realize just what exactly this man is going to have weighing on his conscience for some time if not for the rest of his life.

I personally feel pretty bad for the man

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


I did not mean to sound like I was minimizing the deaths of those workers. However, they are aware of the hazards of their occupation. The unsuspecting population who succumbs to cancer represent a more innocent - therefor more tragic loss of life.

reply to post by onyx718


What gets to me is how they have told people to remain in doors, that will remain with me for the rest of my life.

The animals, people, pets that could have been saved early on.

I am fairly psychic at times and during my prayer/meditations on the Japanese tragedies I see insult upon injury for those who survived first the earthquakes, then the tsunami's and to finally be told to find shelter and or to remain indoors when the possibility of radiation was finally confirmed and residents no longer had a window of escape, these same people were treated, are being treated as lepers, as zombies, and that is something unforgivable.

Real people, families, children, Mothers and Fathers, Grandpas and Grandmas, Aunts uncles and pets, are indoors alright, they are watching in horror as the oozing pustules pop and break, the pain and the suffering immeasurable.

How many will die in the first wave is unknown at present, but the subsequent waves will continue to be swept under the carpet just the same as the first poisoned, contaminated, radiated people left to die cold and abandoned in their homes.

reply to post by antar


I agree. I thought the same thing when those people in the twin towers were told to stay at their desks when the planes hit.

Tragedy is even more tragic if we dont learn from it. ONE of many lessons to be learned is that if you feel like something might be dangerous, dont let someone else tell you you are ok. Trust your instincts and make your own judgments about when the right time is to move from a potentially dangerous area.

But prime minister Naoto Kan insisted that his country would overcome the catastrophe 'We will rebuild Japan from scratch,' he said in a televised speech: 'In our history, this small island nation has made miraculous economic growth thanks to the efforts of all Japanese citizens. That is how Japan was built.

Though its been allover the place including here on ATS, I have not really keep track of this even as most people have. But if there is any finger pointing to be done, which there is at that, for sure, it should be done after this whole thing is stable and on track. If they can not make it stable, then they know what to do, same as what they did at Chernobyl. Though since they are on a island I don't think entombing reactors is the best of plans, but who knows? We will see what happens, so far they seem to be doing a good job, or at least as good as can be expected for such a event.

"Anyways to the above quote" Really the Japanese are a strange people in some ways, but they do have a habit of building up there country from scratch and rebounding from catastrophes in ways that lots of other countries and nations do not. If anything this will probably help them in the long run make better choices, especially concerning building to many nuclear plants on a island that is susceptible to tsunamis and quakes, because a little bird told me that quakes and tsunamis will happen again someday, sometime, and those little birdies know about such things, thats why you most likely wont see them around when such things happen.

If anything that picture of the crying dude, at least that says that they tried, and failed in whatever capacity, which is a lot better then not trying at all.