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Japan Widens Evacuation Zone Around Fukushima

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the get-out-of-town dept.

mdsolar writes "Japan has started the first evacuations of homes outside a government exclusion zone after the earthquake and tsunami crippled one of the country's nuclear power plants. 5100 people are being relocated to public housing, hotels and other facilities in nearby cities."

3 of 483 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Nuke power by plopez · · Score: 5, Informative

    Chernobyl was new but read this:

    http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~pbawa/421/ETHICAL%20ISSUES%20CHERNOBYL.htm

    And before you vilify the Soviet system for fraud, incompetence, corruption etc,; read up on the Diablo canyon reactor. It had serious quality issues as well. Such as the shock absorbers on the foundation which were intended to protect it from, IIRC, 7.3 magnitude earthquakes being installed in reverse. Quality issues abound in all construction even reactors. I don't even trust the Germans to do it right.

    Diablo canyon and Chernobyl also points out that if a good reactor design can be made, building it to spec is still a problem.

    Trivia tidbit: I do believe that the author of the Chernobyl memo is Uri Andropov who chose Gorbachev as his successor to the post of General Secretary of the CP of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev who instituted Glasnost and Perestroika, which eventually led to the peaceful downfall of the Soviet Union.

    --
    putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
  2. Re:Nuke power by SquirrelDeth · · Score: 5, Informative

    So is Chalk River in Canada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk_River_Laboratories But our Prime minister fired the nuclear watch dog when she said to shut the plant down after the last time the reactor had a spill. http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/303953

  3. Re:Nuke power by plover · · Score: 5, Informative

    And I'm glad Chalk River is still on line. My wife needed the isotopes they make to help treat her cancer.

    Their "spill" was 47 liters of heavy water. No damage, nobody harmed. If they stopped making radioisotopes, they'd kill tens of thousands of patients due to lack of treatment options. And it's not like they can stockpile those compounds. The half life of the useful ones are all pretty short.

    There's this fragile thing called perspective. I don't know why so many people lose it when they hear the word "nuclear".

    --
    John