One Final Mission. Do it, and die.

     More than a hundred retired engineers in Japan are volunteering to expose themselves to potentially lethal doses of radiation at the crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, replacing younger workers. 

"We shouldn't leave the work only to young engineers," he said. "Young people, especially those who have children in future, should not be exposed to radiation."

Post Disaster

     It's bad enough when a house or an apartment building is destroyed...a least then the occupants have some time to go through the mess to salvage what they can.

     But the L.A. Times has a story about the enormous challenge ahead for Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. I've never been through a calamity like it, so I hadn't given much thought to it. But just what do you do with hundreds of  tons of trash that used to be a person's home and possessions?



[ALSO: The AP reports this Sunday morning that at least some of that debris will end up on the beaches of the U.S. West Coast...disaster flotsom, But the experts quoted in the article say it will be a year or more before it arrives.]

Japan NONcommunication

     I'm happy to see a report in this morning's NY Times about the terrible job Japanese officials have done in clearly communicating with the media and the public about the nuclear disaster unfolding there.

     Isn't it during that most grave of emergencies that a company should ignore public relations and emphasize public communications?

     As I've suggested, I hope the misleading comments by that country's leadership will be part of the eventually international investigation into...into what? "Chernobyl" became the name of that event. So did "Three Mile Island".

     Somehow Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station doesn't roll off the tongue. Perhaps just "Fukushima" because it sounds a bit like Hiroshima?

Japan & The Nuclear Future

     A week ago, there were 55 nuclear power plants in Japan, yet they provided only 30% or so of that country's energy needs.

     Now there are 53 nuclear power plants...subtracting the two where backup systems failed following the massive earthquake. The NY Times reports that the sea water being used to prevent a meltdown has likely destroyed the plants for the foreseeable future.

     When I went to the World's Fair in New York in 1964, I was amazed by the prediction that nuclear plants were going to produce power so cheap that it would not be worth the effort to collect money from customers. That was before the days when marketing experts made industries underpromise and overdeliver, I suppose.

     The Times report today suggests the events in Japan are far from over, though if you look back at the statements from Japanese officials yesterday, it appeared everything was under control and there was little danger. Then one of the reactor buildings exploded, and now who knows what's coming next.

     There are two new nuclear plants in Japan that are under construction and eleven more are in the planning stages.

     The World Nuclear Association's web page has a page that discusses how safe the plants are, and how little danger there is from earthquakes and tsunamis. I'd guess it's update time.



[UPDATE: What can I say but wow. That was one heck of an earthquake.]



[UPDATE: In an earlier post, I suggested support for nuclear power in the U.S. might drop following the continuing problems in Japen. Now support is dropping.]

The Japan Syndrome

     Today's explosion at the Japanese Nuclear Power Plant comes just over a year after President Obama agreed to have the U.S. government be co-signers of loans for two new nuclear plants in Georgia.

     The memory of Three Mile Island in 1979 has faded, and in any case, the backup systems there did work and prevented a meltdown of the core. It's unclear this Saturday Morning what has happened in Japan, but it is obviously worse than TMI, and maybe worse than Chernobyl.

    

     One thing is clear, 32 years after the TMI accident and the preceding China Syndrome movie, a huge roadblock has been placed in front of any company wanting to build new nuclear plants in America. It will be difficult for those firms to paint Japan as some jack leg third-world country that just didn't take the proper precautions to prevent accidents.

     Good or bad, nuclear power just took a big hit, and that probably means more coal-fired plants in our future.



[UPDATE: Experts say no repeat of Chernobyl in Japan.]

Quake/Tsunami Pix

Some incredible pictures and video on and off line...but one example are the large format photos at the NY Times, which you can zoom in on, including the airport in Sendai  Japan---virtually covered by mud from the wave. The pics are here.