How Fukushima Challenged a Core Tenet of U.S. Nuclear Safety: An Expert's View (Peter Lam)

[bananas]

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120716/fukushima-japan-disaster-nuclear-energy-san-onfore-diablo-canyon-safety-meltdown-peter-lam-expert-interview

How Fukushima Challenged a Core Tenet of U.S. Nuclear Safety: An Expert's View

"Nuclear power is an unforgiving technology," says Peter Lam, nuclear safety expert, whose thinking was changed by Japan's disaster.

By Elizabeth Douglass, InsideClimate News
Jul 16, 2012

Peter Lam's resume reflects a lifetime of experience in the nuclear energy industry–including 20 years in the private sector, followed by 18 years as an administrative judge at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

He's a retired nuclear engineer with 110 published judicial decisions and more than 70 technical papers in industry journals and company publications. And he's considered an international expert on nuclear reactor safety and risk assessment strategies.

So nuclear opponents were stunned last year, when Lam revealed how the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown had changed his views on the importance of accident probabilities—a key tenet of America's nuclear safety policy.

In a presentation before the California Energy Commission in July 2011, Lam raised questions about the NRC's reliance on "likelihood calculations" to guide its safety and plant design regulations. He said the industry practice of not planning for statistically improbable accident scenarios—like the disasters that struck Fukushima—could be catastrophic and needed to end.

The Fukushima calamity involved two of the industry's five most dangerous but "extremely unlikely" nuclear events, Lam said. It also included multiple nuclear reactor core meltdowns—a "Black Swan" scenario never contemplated because it was deemed impossible.

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[PDJane]

1. One of my concerns about nuclear power has always been just this;

with the intersection of global warming and the theory of survivable nuclear war or accidents. This is a dangerous technology that we have come to treat as not particularly dangerous.

For instance, the dropping of DU all over the place has resulted in increased birth defects and cancers, not only where they were used, but wherever the wind blows. Chernobyl is still causing childhood cancers, birth defects, and thyroid problems all over the damn place. Isotopes will get into the water table sooner or later, is in the ocean, is flying around, and we have no way to escape it or clean the damn stuff up.

[AdHocSolver]

2. Another example where profit trumps safety.

I worked in the medical field and that proved to be an enlightening experience, as well.

K and R.