Slashdot Mirror
NRC Releases Audio of Fukushima Disaster
mdsolar writes "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today released transcripts and audio recordings made at the NRC Operations Center during last year's meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The release of these audio recordings comes at the request of the public radio program 'BURN: An Energy Journal,' and its host Alex Chadwick. The recordings show the inside workings of the U.S. government's highest level efforts to understand and deal with the unfolding nuclear crisis as the reactors meltdown. In the course of a week, the NRC is repeatedly alarmed that the situation may turn even more catastrophic. The NRC emergency staff discusses what to do — and what the consequences may be — as it learns that reactor containment safeguards are failing, and that spent fuel pools are boiling away their cooling water, and in one case perhaps catching fire."
Actually I don't remember any of that. Checking the initial article reveals that I don't remember it because it didn't happen. One person said it wasn't a meltdown, and nobody said anything like "STFU luddites" (nothing even close to that quote ever appears).
I also wouldn't gloat... given the most costly natural disaster in human history, which claimed 20,000 lives, only two workers died from the nuclear plant, and there have been no cases of radiation poisoning. Compare this to the six who immediately died in the nearby oil refinery.
At worse, there may be a 0.1% increase in cancer risk due to radiation for the locals (per the most pessimistic scientist opining on the topic), but a lot more have died from the simple loss of electricity. Plus, that works out to ~1,000 deaths over ~50 years, compared to 1,200 cancer deaths due to coal mining (not burning) in Appalachia in the US each year.
I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but that comment did make me curious enough to see how Slashdot fares at predicting the future.
What's the controversy here? This is a US regulatory agency who regulates US reactors, and the hubbub is that they weren't aware of each detail of events that were going on in Japan? Besides it not being in their job description to keep track of Japanese reactors, I don't think the first reaction of the Japanese was "Call the American nuclear regulators! Otherwise they might have to follow events on CNN!"
If this were the Japanese nuclear regulators, then I'd be worried.