Can we have an update on the situation.

[RAIST]

The nuclear disaster currently unfolding is a man-made disaster that could have been prevented. Talking heads for the nuclear industry appear on TV and imply that the nuclear meltdown is akin to aliens landing on planet earth, something that could not have been planned for. This is simply not the case. In 1923 Japan experienced an 8.3 earthquake that generated a 30 to 40 foot tsunami, yet the Fukushima plant was not built to withstand the effects of a similar earthquake and tsunami.

Listening carefully to the nuclear industry’s experts the reason is clear. As happens daily under capitalism, profits are put before people. Making nuclear plants designed to withstand a worst case scenario and protecting the surrounding population is deemed too costly by the profit driven system.

This profit driven decision making is rubber stamped by regulators that are closely tied with the industry they are supposed to regulate. Steff Yorek, a spokesperson for Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “Allowing the nuclear industry to regulate itself is like letting the kids set the rules for the candy store. The same process that led to the BP oil spill a year ago is the cause of the disaster at Fukushima. We cannot allow the health of people and the safety of the environment to be discarded in favor of maximum profit for a handful of wealthy people.”

She added, “The natural disaster by itself would have been difficult enough to cope with, but in five years or so life could have returned to normal. Even in the best case scenario, the working people of Japan will now face radioactive seafood and soil and contaminated ground water for the next 300 years. Capitalism has doomed another Japanese generation to cancer and birth defects. The only question now is in how large of an area will be impacted and how high the dosage of radiation will go.”

Coudn't have said it better myself

Nice.. propogandists to combat propogandists... (spokesperson for Freedom Road Socialist Organization )--go figure.

At the time, the Kanto earthquake was the worst recorded one to date I think...and they hadn't seen an event parallel to it since. 8.3 earthquake and the waves were recorded at 10 meters (about 32 feet) And Kanto wasn't just the earthquake/tsunami--it also had aTYPHOON in the area at the same time--people were literally burned to death while fleeing because of whirlwinds of fire racing through the streets. This one was still considerably worse and 88 years later. There have only been 4 or 5 other incidents world wide that are on par with or worse than this incident.. and they weren't in the Japan region. So, if anything, they would have made things to withstand (as mentioned earlier) around an 8.0 level event. Again, this wasn't the fault of the quake. The shutdown rods were injected automatically when the quake hit, so they were already going into standby. Backup systems DID engage (granted, one stalled at first, but then kicked in). It was when the deluge of multiple tsunami pounded the shoreline that the support systems were taken out completely.

Have to remember, Japan has some of the best (if not THE best) engineering for designing things to withstand this kind of stuff. The fact that they have lost entire cities should be enough to support that this was just an unforseeable event fror which no one could have been fully prepared.

Raist

[Dale]

Nice.. propogandists to combat propogandists... (spokesperson for Freedom Road Socialist Organization )--go figure.

At the time, the Kanto earthquake was the worst recorded one to date I think...and they hadn't seen an event parallel to it since. 8.3 earthquake and the waves were recorded at 10 meters (about 32 feet) And Kanto wasn't just the earthquake/tsunami--it also had aTYPHOON in the area at the same time--people were literally burned to death while fleeing because of whirlwinds of fire racing through the streets. This one was still considerably worse and 88 years later. There have only been 4 or 5 other incidents world wide that are on par with or worse than this incident.. and they weren't in the Japan region. So, if anything, they would have made things to withstand (as mentioned earlier) around an 8.0 level event. Again, this wasn't the fault of the quake. The shutdown rods were injected automatically when the quake hit, so they were already going into standby. Backup systems DID engage (granted, one stalled at first, but then kicked in). It was when the deluge of multiple tsunami pounded the shoreline that the support systems were taken out completely.

Have to remember, Japan has some of the best (if not THE best) engineering for designing things to withstand this kind of stuff. The fact that they have lost entire cities should be enough to support that this was just an unforseeable event fror which no one could have been fully prepared.

Raist

Raist, you should really find something better to be an apologist for.

This was not unforeseeable. It was - in fact - predictable.

And they could have easily been prepared for it. In fact, all competent reactors are prepared for it. They even had people resigning from the project before this even happened because they said the reactor design was not safe. Just go check the facts.

If you are going to build a nuclear reactor on the coast in a volcanic area known for huge earthquakes and tsunamis, anyone remotely intelligent would know to put their emergency back up systems high enough to where flood waters can't wash it away, and certainly "the best engineers and designers" as you claim we are dealing with here would. In fact, even the regulations required them to do so.

This is just another typical example of corporations putting greed for profit above public safety, and this time it just about cost Japan their entire country. So you better take this crap serious and fix it and stop making excuses for them, or next time it may be your country that gets hit next.