Japan disaster could undermine U.S.’s nuclear efforts

[defendandprotect]

Japan disaster could undermine U.S.’s nuclear efforts

By Holly Bailey

EmailPrint..By Holly Bailey holly Bailey – Sun Mar 13, 10:29 am ET
As Japan rushes to contain what could be a major nuclear meltdown in the wake of Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami, the crisis could be a major setback for the U.S. nuclear power industry.

As the Washington Post's Jia Linn Yang reports, politicians on both sides of the aisle, including President Obama and GOP leaders in Congress, have advocated the construction of new nuclear plants stateside in recent years.

Already supporters of nuclear energy are on the defense. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday the crisis in Japan shouldn't deter the country from investing in nuclear power. But he also insisted now is not the time to be having such a debate.

"I don't think right after a major environmental catastrophe is a very good time to be making American domestic policy," the GOP leader told Fox News Sunday. "We ought not to make American domestic policy based on an event that happened in Japan."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110313/ts_yblog_theticket/japan-disaster-could-undermine-u-s-s-nuclear-efforts


-----------------------


How does the nation which so suffered after we dropped two atomic weapons on them as

WWII came to a close come to be depending upon nuclear power plants?

The answer seems to be that capitalism breeds insanity.



Nuclear power plants were erected to make Americans less fearful of the horrific new

weapons we were producing -- and to keep us from seeking other alternatives to our

natural resources which private interests control and profit from --

and much of our OIL also being a "national security" issue for our MIC and President.


Of this event, I think we should be mindful that somehow the tsunami "washed over" the

nuclear facilities, tho we can imagine that the storage pools probably lost some of their

contents -- but it would be impossible to imagine the destruction had the tsunami

actually destroyed the power plants as it did so much else in its path.


Right wing efforts and propaganda will grow again to get us to FORGET the history of these

nuclear reactors -- this time perhaps the pounding of common sense in our heads will be

louder than the insanity of capitalistic propaganda.

[jpak]

1. No it won't - the GOP and the nuclear industry will mount a hugh astroturf campaign

just like they did with Obamacare

The GOP/FOX will repeat their talking points ad nauseum

until the lies are transformed into facts

yup

[FormerDittoHead]

11. Obama will FIGHT THEM and STOP the corporations!!!

:sarcasm:

[tularetom]

2. Ya think?

And when you consider that codes and regulations in Japan are a lot more stringent than what we would ever consider here in the land of unrestrained "capitalism", you can imagine the scope of a disaster if such an event took place here.

[AndyTiedye]

3. This Problem is Not Unique to Capitalism

Chernobyl

[defendandprotect]

12. Actually, I think it is ...

At least, triggered by capitalistic nations which created the arms race --

and have tried to suggest that the money was well spent 'cause look at the wonderful

stuff we've gotten from it! As capitalistic nations began this new energy race,

could the Russians be left behind?

I couldn't quickly come up with an actual date when this reactor was built -- or

who may have supplied the parts and equipment. Could they have all come from Russia?

I don't know.

But notice how common sense begins to be eroded by lies --

How "bad" is bad enough to stop more insanity?

Also note the lnew "Soviet reactors do not explode" propaganda which should remind us

of Pres. Obama delivering the latest in our oil industry's propaganda in saying,

"Oil rigs these days don't leak" ... just before the BP disaster in the Gulf.

And not long after, Obama's cheery, "The Gulf will bounce back!"

Meanwhile, a widespread cover up by the oil industry and deception by the industry is

still clearly in play.


Chernobyl: The toxic tourist attraction


"Chernobyl was a warning for the future," said Valery Makarenko, the first Soviet TV reporter on the scene. "It was not just a banal disaster, it was a message that nuclear power is not safe. It is time to think, consider alternatives, and bring the industry under tight international control. Otherwise, humankind will destroy itself."

Proponents of nuclear energy, however, claim the fallout from Chernobyl was actually not as bad as first thought and pin the blame on shoddy Soviet management practices.

Safety standards are much higher now, they point out, and nuclear power is cheap and clean compared to fossil fuels.

As evidence that the effects of radiation are not as bad as critics contend, they cite how wildlife has staged a remarkable comeback in the area around Chernobyl. Audits in the past have shown that the 18-mile exclusion area or "dead zone" around the plant is now home to 66 different species of mammals, including wild boar, wolves, deer, beavers, foxes, lynx and thousands of elk.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/8363569/Chernobyl-The-toxic-tourist-attraction.html



As noted in the article, during the Soviet era, they were taught that "Soviet reactors

do not explode" -- especially not ones like Chernobyl!!

[AndyTiedye]

24. The Arms Race was an Outgrowth of World War II

We built the Bomb because Hitler was going to build one.
The Soviets built one because we had one.

The purported economic system by which a dictator or an oligarchy rules
makes less difference than some people think.

Russia surely does not need nuclear power.
At the rate Karl Marx must be spinning in his grave
they could wire him up and power their entire country.

[defendandprotect]

26. True --

and when we ask, "Why war" too often the answer is because many profit

from war -- See: Brig. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler -- "War Is A Racket!"

but also it's a great screen behind which to pull off other criminal activity.


Your post also caused me to recall that many are now suggesting that the bombs

dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were actually built by NAZIS and that we took

them over. Third bomb -- possibly the one dropped as a test -- evidently made

by us and the rest of them?


Behind the Cold War much was hidden, that's for sure!!

[hlthe2b]

4. The nuke industry lobbyists are out in droves with astroturf campaigns

appearing as "independent experts" with ties undisclosed on numerous corporatist news channels all weekend.

As Salon.com has shown:

Nuke industry spin: Be "reassured" by Japan
--snip--
On Sunday, every major newspaper in the United States highlighted the nuclear crisis -- a PR nightmare for the industry.

The New York Times' front page led with a banner headline, "Japanese Scramble to Avert Nuclear Meltdowns," while the Washington Post featured stories variously labeled "Radiation Danger," "Reactor Emergency," and "Nuclear Crisis." Many press reports conclude that the current crisis is the worst since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in what is now Ukraine, where an explosion spread a cloud of nuclear fallout over large sections of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe.

In the United States, the political backdrop for the Japanese crisis is a recent bipartisan embrace of nuclear power. President Obama last year announced $8 billion in loan guarantees for a pair of new reactors in Georgia. After more than 30 years of no new reactor construction in America, Singer said that four new reactors -- in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina -- are expected to be online by 2020. Part of the reason for the three-decade lull was public fear generated by the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979.

--snip--
Singer, the NEI spokesman, argued that Japan's infrastructure had actually performed well so far.

"The Japanese plants have been run very safely and reliably for a very long time. They have operated quite safely," he said, adding: "Actually, they withstood the earthquake quite well. It's the tsunami that caused the problems with the backup generators." :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

http://www.salon.com/news/japan_earthquake/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/13/nuclear_industry_response

************
If you see posts across this and other message boards/blogs that suggest an amazing lack of concern, while an overwhelming and inexplicable unquestioning defense of the industry and its "safety record," a little cautious scrutiny and skepticism may well be in order. Just sayin...

[divvy]

5. Those are financial problems

Japan faces a contamination problem.

[Confusious]

6. to keep us from seeking other alternatives to our

The only alternatives at the time were coal and oil.

[InvisibleTouch]

7. We should be so lucky. n/t

[spanone]

8. good.

[pickle juice]

9. Chicken little syndrome

Not one person has died or even become ill by radiation from the Fukushima reactors, but that hasn't stopped the doomsayers from screeching "we TOLD you so!!!"

It's unsurprising that virtually all the dire warnings are coming from a small number of religiously dedicated anti-nuke people few of whom are even minimally educated in the science, engineering or physics involved.

Any news that emanates from official sources (or indeed any others) that calls for restraint or suggests things aren't imminently apocalyptic is pooh-poohed as being from some or other shill or paid spokesperson for the nuclear "industry" (which doesn't really exist in a way as to support building more)...but of course any dire predictions even from the same source are embraced like fundies embrace Leviticus.

The most heartbreaking aspect of this situation is that some anti-nuke people are so obsessed with the subject that the only thing that will give them any real pleasure is if something actually DOES go horribly wrong and kills half a million people...then they can gloat about being 'right'. If it doesn't happen they'll just go back to the old routine...same as the end-timers do with their rapture crap.

Please don't think I'm an employee of some nuclear power group either corporately or think-tank-wise, actually I'm a long time engineer for a well drilling company...if anything a more or less competitor although we don't profit directly from oil production, we just poke the holes where they want them.

[hlthe2b]

13. It underscores in a very real way, the horrendous potential risk...

which is unlike any other form of energy generation. That the pro-nuke lobby and its admirers can not (will not) see that as the very real and understandable issue is what will cause them to lose in the end. Failing to acknowledge that potential risk, while deriding those who have very real concerns-- only serves to brand the nuclear energy as liars, even IF the stats are on their side.

[pickle juice]

19. That's pretty funny...you're saying you don't believe facts.

Typical of the neo-Luddite mentality.

[hlthe2b]

21. I do not believe "created" facts for the benefit of the industry--no

Nor will most DUers who are intelligent enough to see through the propaganda, bluster and insults that the pro-Nuke crowd is launching...

[spanone]

14. i hope so. if it takes chicken little syndrome...good. whatever it takes

[Cleita]

16. Sorry but objecting to a nuke plant that was built to withstand a

max 7.5 mag. quake close to a fault that has been predicted to be capable of a 10 mag. quake isn't doomsday screaming but practical, realistic thinking. It's the people who have drank the Kool-Aid that keep these plants from being decommissioned. You don't seem to understand that after the disaster happens is not the time to correct these mistakes.

I'm so amazed at how people are so willing to ignore the truth in front of them because they have been told that they don't know the real science, engineering and physics and often it is the scientists, engineers and physicists who have been brainwashed by the companies they work for, who are the biggest believers. I lived in a mining camp in Chile among educated engineers, physicists and geologists who believed that technology had conquered all dangers in mining. Well, human nature being what it is, they will take short cuts for profit, ignore safety and pretend danger doesn't exist, yet the mining collapse in Chile that got world wide attention attests otherwise. These disasters are more common than you think but most don't get reported on because people won't look at the reality in front of them.

The fact that you are an engineer for a well drilling company tells me that the company propaganda has done its work on you.

[pickle juice]

18. Thanks for validating my prediction. You assume I was brainwashed

by my employers...yeah, they did it 38 years ago before I went to work there. At least I'm not a hypocrite about it, I like being able to use materials that are derived from oil wells and mining (even that in Chile)...they allow me to keep from freezing in the winter and have a computer. I don't think anybody has managed to build a PC out of wood and swampwater.

[hlthe2b]

22. For someone accusing me earlier of not wanting "facts" you certainly

chosen to ignore every single one presented by Cleita. I'd say your credibility has taken a fatal dive.

[pickle juice]

23. You are truly an arrogant ignoramus. YOU are the one who called those

with statistics to support their claims "liars". Shame on you.

[Beaverhausen]

10. I certainly hope so

[jannyk]

15. Lieberman calls for 'brakes on developing Nuclear plants'

1710:.......In the United States, Senator Joe Lieberman said Washington needed to put the brakes on the development of nuclear power plants until lessons were learned from what had happened in Japan.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12307698

[k2qb3]

17. Nobody wants to build more 40 Y/O first gen boilers...

There are several MUCH better options, Canadas design, pebble-bed, thorium in particular has enormous potential.

If we take this opportunity to prevent new plants from being built we'll end up dependent on old plants, these plants in Japan are beyond their designed service lives, one was supposed to be taken off line this month, they shouldn't have been refueled.

Fossil fuels aren't safe either. Renewables are great but if you're going to advocate an energy policy based on renewables only you need to look into the EROEI of those sources.

A realistic energy plan is going to draw on all sources in an attempt to minimize the negative impacts overall.

I'm concerned this will delay development right when we need it most to replace fossil fuels, we're running out of light sweet crude, our fossil fuel reserves have much lower EROEI then what we've been consuming, meaning much more expensive, and much dirtier, energy going forward. If we don't have abundent electricity our economy will get much worse than it is now, and societies treat unfortunate people only as well as they can afford to.

JMO

[pickle juice]

20. Well, shit...now I'm convinced. I was all wrong! If Liebermann says it, who am I to disagree?

He's a true scientist, isn't he...

[jannyk]

25. Unfortunately, whether or not we build nuke plants will be in the hands

of the politicians and corporations - not the scientists.

[pickle juice]

27. Sure, just like everything else...from public pressure. Do you seriously think people are willing

to sacrifice convenient cheap on-demand electricity for a little eco-friendliness? Whoever said altruism exists was an idiot.

[jannyk]

28. Have you seen the 'little public pressure' being applied n Wisconsin??

Is anybody listening? Are the Politicians/Corporations capitulating yet?

Did you witness the 'little public pressure' against the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars?. The countless millions worldwide were ignored so loudly it hurt.

Naive Dude - the politicians and the corporations will have it their way and bugger the people wishes.