Nuclear doubts spread in wake of Niigata

[struggle4progress]

Thursday, Sept. 1, 2007
ATOMIC POWER AT ANY COST?
GOVERNMENT SAFETY STANDARDS QUESTIONED
Nuclear doubts spread in wake of Niigata
By JUN HONGO and AKEMI NAKAMURA
Staff writers

... <Hiroaki> Koide <of Kyoto University, an assistant professor at Research Reactor Institute> is now worried about the Hamaoka plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, which is in a region where government experts in January forecast an 87 percent chance of a magnitude-8 earthquake striking within the next 30 years.

The fallout from a nuclear meltdown at Hamaoka could easily reach Tokyo, Koide said, warning that millions would be exposed to radiation and its effects could linger for generations ...

"Theoretically, it is natural to think that the power plant equipment underwent irreversible changes in their composition," said <Mitsuhiko> Tanaka <a former Hitachi group engineer involved in building Tepco's Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant>, who joined an antinuclear energy campaign after quitting Hitachi in 1977 ...

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070901f3.html

[GliderGuider]

1. Risk Perception

The fallout from a nuclear meltdown at Hamaoka could easily reach Tokyo, Koide said, warning that millions would be exposed to radiation and its effects could linger for generations...

The waste products from the normal operation of fossil fuel power plants does reach every corner of the globe; billions are exposed to the resulting Climate Chaos every day; the effects will linger for generations.

Actual global damage vs. potential regional damage.

Here's what's going on. From the Wikipedia article on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_perception">Risk Perception:

Slovic and others then tested the theory that the experts have a more accurate and objective view of risks. They asked groups of experts and lay people to rank a list of risks according to their riskiness. Then they asked them to estimate the annual number of fatalities from each risk. They found that both experts and lay people had a basically accurate view of which risks kill more people. The experts' rankings of risk correlated closely with their estimates of fatalities, indicating that to experts, "riskier" means "kills more people." On the other hand, lay people's judgments of riskiness did not correlate with their estimates of fatalities, suggesting that there are other aspects of risk that laypeople take into account.

Slovic and others then asked groups of laypeople to rate a series of risks on a number of dimensions, such as new-old, known to science-not known to science, and catastrophic-chronic. By using factor analysis, they found that two main factors could explain why lay people saw some risks as more dangerous than others. These factors are referred to as "dread" and "unknown." A dread risk elicits a visceral feeling of dread, is uncontrollable, is catastrophic, is fatal, is inequitable, and is involuntary. An unknown risk is delayed, new, and unknown to science. Nuclear power is both dreaded and poorly understood, explaining why the public fears it so much.

[phantom power]

5. The HP Lovecraft effect.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=104502&mesg_id=104511

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[struggle4progress]

3. DU E&E SPECIAL! POST A NEWS STORY & GET ATTACKED BY A BULLY FOR FREE!

I posted a news story from Japan ... to which the response is: a collection of unsupported and insupportable personal accusations.

The accusations result entirely from the fact that I do not share certain nuclear enthusiasms of the accuser. Some of these accusations are ugly: I have never hoped for lots of deaths in any context nor have I ever had any connection whatsoever to the natural gas industry. Others put words in my mouth -- such as the accusation I shrieked Tragedy!!!! Tragedy!!!!! about the damage to a Japanese nuclear facility or IAEA investigation of it. Still others pretend to read my mind, claiming to know what I do or do not doubt.

I'm unimpressed.

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Nadir

Nadir - the lowest point

I have always admired Frederick Douglass. Recently, I've grown to have a visceral reaction to his portrait.

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"To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker."

Frederick Douglass