Updates
March 27, 2011: Radioactivity in rain secondary to Japanese disaster has now been detected in Boston -- source: television news. Also here. You think folks are going to allow a new nuclear reactor in their neighborhood?
March 21, 2011: Warren Buttett on CNBC, Squawk Box, 6:50 a.m. EST -- there won't be any new nuclear reactors built in the US for a very long time.
March 19, 2011: I knew that Germany had shut down seven (7) reactors, but I did not know until today that China has suspended plans for nearly thirty new reactors.
Germany ordered all seven of its nuclear plants 31 years and older to be shut down for three months for safety inspections. The destroyed Fukushima plant in Japan is also 30 years old. China suspended plans for 27 new nuclear power plants and ordered safety inspections of its 13 existing plants. China had earlier told the World Nuclear Association that the emerging economic giant intended to build 110 reactors.March 18, 2011: NBC's David Gregory -- "Nuclear energy has been set back a decade, maybe more." Said on CNBC at 8:30 EST. Well, a decade is an eternity in the investing world. [I personally think it can be done safely: the modern GE designs; fail-safe generators; don't build on seismic faults; need to work the terrorist question.]
Original Post
Those are not my words, but the words of a very well-respected editor.
Dangerous radiation leaks from four stricken reactors after a tsunami hit Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant last week may be “the death knell” for a pending “nuclear renaissance,” increasing demand for natural gas, residual oil, and coal to fuel electric power generation, said several industry analysts.Germany has shut down several nuclear reactors and most folks don't associate Germany with either earthquakes or tsunamis.
Great idea shut down all reactors...let's burn more coal to power electric vehicles for cleaner air.
ReplyDeleteThe Nuke industry is going to take a hit here, but, it's still a necessary evil.
The nuclear industry needs to overbuild their reactors. One improvement would be to NOT put your diesel back-up generators in the basement where the effects of a tsunami can wipe them out.
Diablo Canyon keeps back-up generators a few miles off-site, where in an emergency they can be helicoptered in and used on the roof. Perhaps they should set up a second location, in case there's no roof.
Even if nuclear power killed 200,000 people every twenty years it still wouldn't compare to the number of deaths associated with coal every year.
ReplyDeleteI was amazed when I heard that lack of electricity was the issue. No electricity and no way to pump more water into the reactors. To learn that the back-up generators were under sea-level is incredible. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteWater and electricity do not mix.
ReplyDeleteA similar situation happened in new Orleans during Katrina.
There, The cellular (and wireline ) network switching systems were in the basement of a downtown building. Hence, even though redundant and fail over systems existed, they too were under water and out! Most back up systems are designed for electrical component failure and not for weather/geo induced failure .
I have a similar story regarding back-up generators below sea level when I was in the US Air Force. Amazing, isn't it, how these things happen?
ReplyDelete