“This Could Become Chernobyl on Steroids”: Nuclear Engineer Arnie Gundersen on Japan’s Growing Nuclear Crisis.
“A tragedy such as we’re seeing in Japan right now is not only highly unlikely here (in the US), but the plant that we have and the plants that we are in the process of building are of a substantially safer design,” said Bill Timmerman, chairman and chief executive officer of Scana.
Nuclear plants along Japan’s coast survived Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and shut down properly, SCE&G chief operating officer Stephen Byrne said. The trouble came when the subsequent surge of seawater swamped diesel generators powering the backup cooling system.
The fast-moving series of events has put Japan’s people on edge and has the government scrambling to contain a crisis caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami. The government had ordered spraying water and boric acid over the plant in a desperate measure to contain radiation after officials said that many fuel rods were damaged. The radiation leak caused the government to order 140,000 people living within 20 miles of the plant to seal themselves indoors to avoid exposure. Tokyo Electric Power spokesman Hajimi Motujuku said a fire at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant broke out today in the No. 4 reactor. “Nuclear power is the most frightening, even more than a tsunami. The government, the ruling party, administrators, nobody tells us, the citizens, what is really happening,” said evacuee Isao Araki, 63.
No one really knows what will happen. Proponents on both sides argue over the effects that the radiation released in Japan will have on the population exposed to it. As they cannot agree on what levels of radiation are safe, the nuclear experts in the US cannot agree on weather America should continue developing nuclear facilities or put more resources into green energy before the US becomes victim to a similar disaster. Nuclear energy presents the US with a difficult situation as it is necessary to power the country at this time but it also bears a risk. Although the risk of loss to a terrorist organization is thwarted by sophisticated security systems, the risk of radiation exposure is still present. This risk has always been present, nuclear experts have only advanced the technology however. American citizens are certainly safer from nuclear power plants today than 30 years ago, despite the increase in their usage. Nuclear power is much more efficient than coal or oil and therefore it will continue to be a premier source of energy until one of the green technologies can produce electricity at a similar scale.
Nuclear plants along Japan’s coast survived Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and shut down properly, SCE&G chief operating officer Stephen Byrne said. The trouble came when the subsequent surge of seawater swamped diesel generators powering the backup cooling system.
The fast-moving series of events has put Japan’s people on edge and has the government scrambling to contain a crisis caused by last week’s earthquake and tsunami. The government had ordered spraying water and boric acid over the plant in a desperate measure to contain radiation after officials said that many fuel rods were damaged. The radiation leak caused the government to order 140,000 people living within 20 miles of the plant to seal themselves indoors to avoid exposure. Tokyo Electric Power spokesman Hajimi Motujuku said a fire at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant broke out today in the No. 4 reactor. “Nuclear power is the most frightening, even more than a tsunami. The government, the ruling party, administrators, nobody tells us, the citizens, what is really happening,” said evacuee Isao Araki, 63.
No one really knows what will happen. Proponents on both sides argue over the effects that the radiation released in Japan will have on the population exposed to it. As they cannot agree on what levels of radiation are safe, the nuclear experts in the US cannot agree on weather America should continue developing nuclear facilities or put more resources into green energy before the US becomes victim to a similar disaster. Nuclear energy presents the US with a difficult situation as it is necessary to power the country at this time but it also bears a risk. Although the risk of loss to a terrorist organization is thwarted by sophisticated security systems, the risk of radiation exposure is still present. This risk has always been present, nuclear experts have only advanced the technology however. American citizens are certainly safer from nuclear power plants today than 30 years ago, despite the increase in their usage. Nuclear power is much more efficient than coal or oil and therefore it will continue to be a premier source of energy until one of the green technologies can produce electricity at a similar scale.
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