Am I the only one who finds terrible irony in the nuclear destruction we have helped visit on Japan,

[Skidmore]

not once, but twice. The first was through unleashing the terrible power of warheads and the second in selling nukes as a peaceful tool of power to this nation that was so devastated by it. Before the parsing and hairsplitting of my comments start, consider that our nation could have put an end to nuclear weaponry and any other use of this technology decades ago. Instead we continue to hitch our wooden chariot to the sun and scream when the tires start to burn.

[Ozymanithrax]

1. We did not bomb Japan with reactors...

Because they have neither oil nor reserves of other natural fuels, rather than spend money buy natural gas and other products to make power, the decided to use nuclear power, as have many other nations. It was more cost effective for them to go Nuclear.

They may now rething that decision, as I suspect a lot of countries will, including our own.

[Skidmore]

2. We bombed them with capitalism on steroids.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. Actually, we did not bomb them, they accepted Capitalism...

in various disguises. They were capitalist before World War II and rethought and redeveloped their capitalism after.

This is not our fault that Japan, and most of the first world countries made an attempt to develop Capitalist systems of economics. Since the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Capitalism (if that is what you want to call he modern system of economics) has ruled. It is exploding in China and India, the most likely future super powers, today.

When it works as intended by its first great theorist, Adam Smith, it works well in societies that esteem individual rights.

It is when the depart from Smith and remove regulation that Capitalism fails. Of course, when the economy is no longer regulated for the benefit of the citizens of a nation, it is no longer Capitalism.

[StarburstClock]

3. Thanks for clearing that up?

To the OP: yes, it's horrible that Japan is now the recipient of a 2nd nuclear disaster, both man-made.

[Ozymanithrax]

7. It is not our fault they built 6 nuclear reactors together so close to a fault.

It isn't our fault that a 9.0 earthquake struck Japan.
It isn't our fault that the Tsunami caused by that earthquake struck Japan.
It isn't our fault that the reactor coolant systems were destroyed by the Tsunami.

I hope, in the light of what has happened, Japan will rethink its heavy reliance on Nuclear power. If they don't, that won't be our fault either.

The first nuclear disaster to strike Japan was our fault. This one was not.

[Skidmore]

8. Nothing is ever our fault...because

we're exceptional.

[Ozymanithrax]

10. Exceptionalism is religious gobledy gook...

done up in nationalistic drag.

It isn't our fault because the Japanese government and its people made the decisions to use Nuclear power. In the short term, it made sense for them economically. In the long term, it appears to be a bad decision.

[MrModerate]

4. Ahistorical alert!

Japan, a highly sophisticated technical state (which incidentally was a highly sophisticated technical state in 1945, just one in ruins), developed much of its nuclear technology on its own. As with any complicated -- and at the time, leading edge -- technology, manufacturers in other countries (including the US, the UK, and France) contributed to its development. But to say that the US "visited" nuclear energy on Japan is fanciful and overwrought.

And as far as "ending nuclear weaponry and any other use of this technology," you forget the 30-some nations that have built nuclear generating stations and the 9+ nations that have nuclear weapons.

The genie was let out of the bottle at White Sands, New Mexico in July 1945 and is not going back in.

Whether the world should continue development of nuclear energy as a viable power source is a legitimate debate; blaming the US for its existence is not.

[dkf]

5. I thought those reactors are from GE?

[MrModerate]

9. The reactor design, yes. But a nuclear generating station is much more than just the reactors . . .

And not all Japanese reactors are of American design. I disagreed with the OP that the Fukushima crisis arose because the US "visited" nuclear energy on Japan in the same way that we "visited" nuclear destruction with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.