The Nuclear Topic

[Pangilinan 1st MRB]

Already, this has reached front page, sensational headline news. Explosions at the plant, workers struggling to contain the fires, evacuations, and now talk of the end of nuclear power.

I say it's a load of horseshit, a comment unbecoming of a forum such as this. The politicization of the issue and the use of a natural disaster as a springboard ignores the complexities of the problem. From the result of an outdated design (it has been noted that the design is one of the first truly useful commercial designs) and the perfect storm of consequences in which the power is lost and its backup generators were washed away. It ignores reality and situation on the ground for the next sound clip, the next talking point.

As of now, I'm not trusting any news source besides the International Atomic Energy Agency, and any news article that has the facts to back it up [update 15 Mar], and not sensationalism to make a point completely unrelated at the disaster at hand. It may be naivety, but I'm more inclined to trust experts and the people on the ground, and the fact that Japan had ramped up disaster preparedness since the 1995 Kobe Earthquake and had already foreseen incidents like this (hell, they had a warning out a minute before the earthquake hit Tokyo) and they're following SOP. Even if it means they have to do it on the fly because, as the article says, they're in uncharted waters.

So, what do raiders think? Am I in the wrong? Or should I follow what Brendan O'Niell of The Australian has to say? Keep your sanity, don't read the comments.

I'm tired of sensationalism. I want my hard facts damnit.

Edited March 15, 2011 by Pangilinan 1st MRB

[Zahl 1st MRB]

Shut down all nuclear powerplants within 15 years and find other ways.. too risky, too many people dead.. No moreBelarusian Necklace

Id say there are more efficient ways to get energy than "playing games" with the earth.

Besides who the fucks is so stupid and puts a nuclear powerplant 10 feets from a ocean filled with almost daily earthquakes..?!?!?!?!??!?!!?

[Hastings]

Besides who the fucks is so stupid and puts a nuclear powerplant 10 feets from a ocean filled with almost daily earthquakes..?!?!?!?!??!?!!?

A really smart person, the sea water acts as an emergency cooling system, and without it, the plant would have already had a meltdown.

There is nothing wrong with nuclear power, and it should be expanded. Accidents are bound to happen and without nuclear energy we would be burning through our resources much faster. Japan has very little in terms of natural resources, the same ones we are blessed with. Nuclear power was a very viable option, and a very smart one. It was just a case of wrong place, wrong time. They should just develop some technology or way of building them that makes them more resistant to seismic activity.

[Magic 1st MRB]

This really sucks for the future of nuclear energy in America. We already have senators running in to try and stop a bill that would allow us to build more nuclear plants in Missouri. This is horrible since we cannot continue running a nation on oil or even these renewable energies such as wind and hydro.

This guy has the right ideas : http://www2.wspa.com/news/2011/mar/17/grah...ar--ar-1592659/

BTW we should just divert all of our monies toward Thorium Fission and then sell out massive excess energy to other countries for even more monies.

[Hastings]

Skade, that is what is pissing me off. Just because of a natural disaster, Nuclear energy will progress extremely slowly. It gets a horrible reputation when Chernobyl (or now, Japan) is mentioned. The thing is, it uses extremely low amounts (in terms of weight and space) of materials and has no immediate byproducts (Steam, and after years, the coils themselves). It is the future of energy and has the highest weight to power output ratio of any power source. All that is needed are improved safety features and protocols. I hate that this disaster happened obviously, but the hit that Nuclear power will take as an industry will be worse.