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Japan Plans To Scrap Nuclear Plants After 40 Years

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the over-the-hill-gang dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this news as carried by the San Francisco Chronicle: "After the nuclear meltdown of the Fukushima plant, 'Japan says it will soon require atomic reactors to be shut down after 40 years of use to improve safety.' If, however, a nuclear plant is deemed still safe it may continue operation."

5 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. if it ain't broke by alphatel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I promised my neighbors I will stop burning cow dung after 10 years, unless I deem it doesn't still smell like sh*t.

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    When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
    1. Re:if it ain't broke by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're missing the point.

      Older plants don't have as many safety features as newer plants, as well existing safety features may degrade as they age. So instead of plants simply getting older and less safe they're proactively saying "this plant will be shut down by X unless you can prove it's still safe enough to continue".

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      I stole this Sig
  2. Re:So, no change? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, it means that now, a plant has to be shown to be unsafe to be shutdown. With the changes, a plant has to be shown to be safe to qualify for an extention. It basically means more inspections.

  3. OTOH... by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    will soon require atomic reactors to be shut down after 40 years of use to improve safety.' If, however, a nuclear plant is deemed still safe it may continue operation."

    That also implies that if a plant is unsafe, it still gets 40 years. Otherwise, what does the time limit mean? At the end of 40 years, a plant is either safe or unsafe. If safe, they can keep going. If unsafe, why was it still running?

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    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:OTOH... by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      will soon require atomic reactors to be shut down after 40 years of use to improve safety.' If, however, a nuclear plant is deemed still safe it may continue operation."

      That also implies that if a plant is unsafe, it still gets 40 years. Otherwise, what does the time limit mean? At the end of 40 years, a plant is either safe or unsafe. If safe, they can keep going. If unsafe, why was it still running?

      People like you are why I always feel the need to write long pedantic posts :/

      First lets establish the obvious in that safety isn't a binary condition, it's a continuum.

      Now older plants are less safe for two reasons. 1) they were built when the technology was less advanced, 2) they are old.

      Now if a plant is unsafe enough it will obviously be shut down before the 40 year mark, the only reason to believe otherwise is if you're being deliberately obtuse.

      However, we're looking at the situation where a plant is safe enough that there's no immediate reason to shut it down, but if someone started the ball rolling and did a really tough safety inspection it might end in the plant being shut down.

      What this law does is start the ball rolling.

      I'm sorry to sound snippy but comments of the type "I'm going to misinterpret a statement so I can make a clever remark" really bug me and detract from the discussion.

      --
      I stole this Sig