Disastrous quake hits Japan!

[David Johnson]

Early days yet but this is beginning to look scary. The government has admitted that there has been a release of radioactive material into the atmosphere and they are evacuating people within a radius of 12 miles of the plant. Tokyo is a 150 miles away.

On top of that the government has announced that there is still a chance of another tsunami with 3 metre high waves and have asked people next to the coast to move inland. Apparently in the aftermath there have been over a 100 aftershocks above 5 on the Richter scale.

Fingers and legs crossed time, I suspect.

Cheers
D

[jimslip]

Welcome to the reality of Nuclear Power, all fine until something goes wrong! The statisticians love saying reactors are so safe that you could only get an, "Meltdown Event" once in a 1000 years. What they don't mention is that, the "Event" could be tomorrow, or in a 1000 years!

[David Johnson]

Much as I detest Rupert Murdoch, I have to admit that the Sky News coverage I have been watching on Freeview is infinitely better than BBC News.

They have wheeled out a whole gamut of nuclear power experts explaining how safe the technology is and that one of the problems is that Joe Public don't really "understand" nuclear technology.

Yet I note that the Tokyo Electric Power Company that run the Fukishima plant admitted in the late nineties falisfying safety data and concealing cracks in the core structures of its reactors. One of their plants was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 2007 but the owners tried to conceal a radiation leak.

Not confidence building stuff!

Cheers
D

[Snowy]

NEVER been a fan of nuclear energy - and in all places, Japan, I cannot believe they rely so heavily on atomic power.

These are worrying times indeed. And, of course, all the Domesday merchants are having their turn in the spotlight now.

We've been told to expect the Rapture on May 21 and the End Of The World on October 21.

Better get down to the bookies, then...

[jimslip]

Check out the number of nuclear reactors France has on it's Northern coast. If one blows, guess where the prevailing wind dumps the fallout?

[img]http://www.world-nuclear.org/images/info/france.gif[/img]

[spider]

Arent there plans for the UK to start building a "new generation" of Nuclear Power Stations?

Anyone still think that's a good idea?

Apart from MPs taking backhanders from the Nuclear Energy Industry of course!

[Sam Slater]

We don't get earthquakes and tsunamis like Japan does. I think nuclear power is much safer than oil.

For one, burning oil is warming up the whole planet, which may be irreversible. Radiation does disperse and decay over time and only affects certain areas (not the world as a whole, like global warming does).

Secondly the money from oil helps prop up nasty dictators and we tolerate the status quo because we rely on the oil these dictators have at their disposal. Someone else might turn the taps off or raise the price!

Thirdly, carbon fuel WILL run out. Even if you're one of those flat-earthers who thinks this global warming malarkey is bollocks, you can't deny that there's a finite supply of the stuff. With massive, emerging markets like India and China, oil will be in even greater demand which will drive up the price. I just can't see China, India and the West sharing it out equally. It will cause wars in the end, which may end up with us all having radiation poisoning anyway, if the bombs don't mercifully kill us first.

Fourthly, nuclear fission plants will only be temporary until we can create nuclear fusion for long periods. Nuclear fusion emits little radioactive particles compared to fission.

Lets just be sensible and keep them away from major fault lines and active volcanoes.

[jimslip]

Lovely, clean nuclear power.......bollocks! 5 more reactors in Japan are in an emergency situation!

[jimslip]

I'm downloading, "The China Syndrome" a great 70's film about the 3 Mile Island reactor scare, which HAS actually happened in Japan.

[andy at handiwork]

Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and a little bit of the south of England.