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Nuclear events taking place in Japan.

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Martin King

Wed Mar 23 2011, 11:39PM

Registered Member #3040 Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237

Ash Small wrote ...

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.....

It's not simply a pay issue. Low pay=poorly motivated staff who couldn't really give a toss about the job. But also you can have reasonably paid staff who are put under pressure to save the company money and cut corners in the process (and if you express concerns you risk losing your job or at least your promotion prospects). In both situations the end result is the same.

Martin.

Proud Mary

Thu Mar 24 2011, 12:02AM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Martin King wrote ...

Perhaps if laws were made where shareholders and directors in companies would have to personally pay back the costs of any major disaster, then they may take a keener interest in the companies practices and corners may be cut a bit less. In a limited way they do through the fact that future share prices/dividends fall through the floor, but that doesn't affect the money they already have stashed away in the bank, and it's that you want to hit.

Martin.

That would be as likely as expecting a modern King of England to lead from the front, which hasn't happened since the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485.

Bjørn

Thu Mar 24 2011, 12:58AM

Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058

True, but then why did all the worst nuclear accidents to date happen in Soviet Russia, where there was no such thing as private enterprise? Hopefully Fukushima won't break this trend by out-exploding Chernobyl or the Mayak processing plant.

If we look deeper than names and labels there were many intensely competetive groups in soviet russia. The mechanisms are the same no matter what kind of labels you put on them.

In a competetive environment there is nothing people will not do unless they are watched closely and held responsible. When it comes to nuclear reactors the designers and builders usually get a legal document saying that they are not responsible for any accidents. That way we are guaranteed to get a design that cuts important corners.

The result is that the engineers that designed reactors that start to explode when there is a loss of external power and the people that decided to build reactors on top of fault lines well knowing that it was unsafe will go free with their pockets full of money.

Dr. Drone

Thu Mar 24 2011, 03:26AM

Registered Member #290 Joined: Mon Mar 06 2006, 08:24PM
Location:
Posts: 1673

Patrick

Thu Mar 24 2011, 06:03AM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

Dr. Spark wrote ...

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.....

...Really thinking one of the issues today is we are not taught to bust butt and do it well...
... but have a hand out to get higher $ then think about output. Pay scale = harder work only last a while...
...Was taught that everything you do, you do well or not at all period....
...Letâ€™s get back to basics indeed!

Yes!
Yes!
Me too!
and Yes!

Ash Small

Thu Mar 24 2011, 09:52AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Dr. Spark wrote ...

..If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.....

When was 15 (lied about my age) had my first real job washing dishes at $1.65 an hour. .

With all due respect, Dr. Spark, this demonstrates my point. They were paying peanuts and using illegal workers.

(I too am a perfectionist, and was one of the youngest ever members of the 'Guild of Master Craftsmen', but 'we' are not typical of mainstream society.)

Mathias

Thu Mar 24 2011, 11:33AM

Registered Member #1381 Joined: Fri Mar 07 2008, 05:24PM
Location: Hungary
Posts: 74

Sturgeon's Law ...

Inducktion

Thu Mar 24 2011, 12:08PM

Registered Member #3637 Joined: Fri Jan 21 2011, 11:07PM
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 1068

US agrees to help Chile go Nuclear, Despite Japan Disaster

Copyright The Christian Science Monitor Mar 21, 2011

Even as radiation leaked from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, the US and Chile signed a nuclear power cooperation agreement, days ahead of President Obama's visit Monday.

Among the "urgent events" that President Obama said he discussed Monday with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera was the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan that began March 11 when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami along the northeast coast.

While the crisis only appeared to be mentioned in passing during a press conference in Santiago during Mr. Obama's five-day regional tour, it has set off a firestorm of criticism against Mr. Pinera and caused a major rethink over energy policy here.

Yesterday, some 2,000 people marched through the capital to protest a new US-Chile nuclear power cooperation agreement signed Friday as radiation leaked from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. The agreement promises cooperation in operating research reactors, handling civilian nuclear training and safety measures. It seemed a natural extension of Pinera's steady push for nuclear power to ensure electricity for Chile's world-leading copper industry.

But recent events appear to have caused Pinera to pivot.

Like Japan, Chile is seismic - its 9.5-magnitude quake in 1960 was the most powerful of the 20th century. And Chile's risk management culture is not as mature as Japan's. Now, this mineral-rich nation faces an energy dilemma: whether to choose earthquake-prone nuclear power plants or greenhouse gas-emitting coal-fired power plants.

Walking the fence

Ditching nuclear power would mark a sharp shift for Chile's government. Pinera said in an energy policy address in November that the country should build small nuclear plants like those found on nuclear submarines - an idea also promoted by the US Commerce Department. And last month, Energy Minister Laurence Golborne visited France and signed a nuclear cooperation agreement. The signing was announced with a press release, unlike the silence around Friday's closed-doors ceremony.

Then on Friday, Mr. Golborne said on Twitter: "I've been clear. We don't have nuclear plants in Chile, there are no plans to build them, and there's a commitment not to make a decision during this government."

Former President Ricardo Lagos, who supported nuclear power while in office, told local newspaper La Tercera: "Today the conditions don't exist to think about nuclear power. A lot of time will pass before it can be reconsidered."

US hunts for nuclear markets

If it doesn't use nuclear energy, then how will Chile power its growing copper extraction industry? Coal.

Chile has already approved almost a dozen new coal-fired power plants to allow its metals industry to grow to meet world demand. The country approved in February a 2,400-megawatt plant for the coast, which if built will be the biggest coal-fired plant in South America.

But there's a heavy price to pay environmentally for that. Growth of coal and diesel-fired electricity to power copper mines and smelters was one of the reasons that copper produced more greenhouse gases per ton in 2008 than in 2004, according to the Chilean Copper Commission.

That, as well as the US's hunt for new markets for its nuclear technology, could keep Chile on a nuclear course.

In a November report, the US General Accounting Office called on the Commerce Department to identify new markets, saying the US has lost much of its share in the global nuclear marketplace.

"US exports of sensitive nuclear material such as natural and enriched uranium remained stable, while the US share of global exports for these materials decreased significantly, from 29 percent to 10 percent, from 1994 through 2008," the agency said.

Credit: Steven Bodzin Correspondent

Proud Mary

Thu Mar 24 2011, 12:17PM

Registered Member #543 Joined: Tue Feb 20 2007, 04:26PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4992

Japan nuclear plant workers in hospital after radiation exposure

Three cable-layers at Fukushima power plant exposed to high levels of radiation after stepping into contaminated water

* Justin McCurry in Tokyo
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011 10.52 GMT

Three workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been exposed to high levels of radiation after reportedly stepping into contaminated water as they battled to make the stricken No 3 reactor safe.

Two of the workers were taken to a special radiation unit at a hospital in Chiba city, east of Tokyo, Japan's nuclear safety agency said.

The workers, who are all in their 20s and 30s, were exposed to between 170 millisieverts (mSv) and 180 mSv of radiation.

This is above the usual legal limit of 100 mSv per year for nuclear power workers in Japan, but below a new limit of 250 mSv, introduced last week to enable them to spend more time inside the crippled facility.

The men were affected while laying cable in the turbine building of the No 3 reactor, said Fumio Matsuda, an agency spokesman, adding that two had exposed skin on their feet to radioactive elements.

Their accident cast doubt on the wisdom of raising the threshold for radiation exposure for the hundreds of technicians, firefighters and soldiers taking part in the Fukushima operation.

The government's chief spokesman, Yukio Edano, said the injuries were "very regrettable", but defended the health ministry's decision to raise the exposure limit soon after the start of the world's worst nuclear power emergency since Chernobyl.

"Atmospheric radiation levels are monitored constantly, but in this case the workers stepped into water," Edano said.

"The decision to increase permissible radiation exposure was taken on the advice of experts, who say that workers are able to withstand up to 250 mSv per year before radiation has an effect on their health.

"But this kind of exposure, from water, was unforeseen. We are trying to find out exactly what happened so we can ensure it doesn't happen again."

More than 20 workers have been injured at the Fukushima plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo, since it was badly damaged in the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. They include 11 who were hurt when the No 3 reactor building exploded.

The condition of the No 3 unit is of particular concern as it contains plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel and would release highly toxic plutonium in the event of a meltdown.

On Wednesday afternoon, workers were temporarily evacuated from the plant after black smoke was seen rising from the same reactor.

The smoke receded after an hour and radiation levels remained unchanged, the safety agency said.

The three workers who stepped into contaminated water were part of a team positioned in the reactor building's basement.

They were laying cables to connect a pump to the power supply and restart the supply of fresh water in an attempt to cool the reactor.

The release of radioactive substances from the plant is continuing to cause anxiety in Tokyo.

Wednesday's warning that radioactive iodine levels in the capital's tap water had exceeded levels considered safe for babies prompted a rush of people buying bottled water.

The warning was lifted on Thursday after iodine-131 dropped to safe levels, but they were still above the safe upper limit for infants in the neighbouring prefectures of Chiba and Saitama.

In Tokyo, a city of 13 million people, supermarkets quickly ran out of bottled water; the metropolitan government said it would distribute an extra 240,000 bottles to families with infants.

"Customers ask us for water, but there's nothing we can do," Masayoshi Kasahara, a supermarket worker, said.

"We have asked for extra deliveries but we don't know when they will arrive."

Tokyo's stores have also started rationing milk, toilet paper and rice, which have been hit by a surge in demand and delivery disruptions

Patrick

Fri Mar 25 2011, 07:05AM

Registered Member #2431 Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639

US media as of 12:03 AM friday, is reporting that reactor 3 may have breached its main containment vessel. Were not at a "Chernobyl" yet, but this is bad, real bad.

Remember, reactor 3 is the MOX fueled one, so its pretty much the worst possible reactor for this to happen to.

EDIT: Japanese nuclear safety agency official says: "some containment features may still be functional", what ever the hell thats supposed to mean.

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