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TEPCO Workers Remove Wrong Pipe Get Splashed With Radioactive Water
An anonymous reader writes "A day after TEPCO workers mistakenly turned off cooling pumps serving the spent pool at reactor #4 at the crippled nuclear plant comes a new accident — 6 workers apparently removed the wrong pipe from a primary filtration system and were doused with highly radioactive water. They were wearing protection yet such continuing mishaps and 'small mistakes' are becoming a pattern at the facility."
I would be willing to bet that things like this happen frequently at nuclear power plants in the U.S. but they aren't being closely scrutinized so you don't hear about it.
Queue the malcontents to stir up the idiots with OMG TEPCO IS KILLING TEH EARTH!!!1
Stop it. They're handling vast quantities of water in thousands pipes, tanks, tunnels and pumps. Some of it is going to leak. Some of it will spill. Sometimes it will get on someones rad suit. This isn't incompetence or the end of the world. It is the natural and expected consequence of dealing with fucking plumbing.
Whatever. This hysteria has an expiration date; after the 50th OMG THEY SPILT SOMETHING story people will get tired of it and the media will seek out some new source of hysteria.
That is, at least, as it should be. It would be nice if we could just not indulge this stupid shit to begin with.
How do you accidentally remove the wrong pipe when you're working with nuclear stuff?
I've worked in the software and IT industry for quite a few years, and in that time I've learned that there are things you do that need to be precise, because you can make a hell of a mess if you don't. To do this, you measure twice, measure a few more times, and have your second who has been watching what you're doing confirm you're doing what you expect to be.
I learned this from maintaining production systems for business critical stuff, and a few things for which lives could literally be on the line. But at the end of the day, it's still less dangerous and critical than working on a nuclear plant.
This just sounds to me like either they're fumbling around in the dark, working from incomplete plans and don't actually know what the parts are, or are just simply not taking time to do the diligence on what they're doing.
Especially when it's your ass that's going to get splashed with highly radioactive water.
For a nation which has a reputation for fastidious attention to detail, obsessive safety drills, and engineering excellence ... how the hell are they ending up with a company which has made so many 'mistakes' in this?
Once again, I have to wonder if these guys are actually qualified to be running nuclear reactors. Because this is two accidents in a few days, and I get the impression that a lot of this was also caused by human error.
The mind boggles.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Opening the wrong pipe mistakenly believing it to be a different one is a 'small mistake'/mishap.
That's one small mistake for man, one giant leap for mutantkind
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Yes, there is.
Recently, I have been going over distinctions between western/American and Japanese cultures. It has been widely accepted that Japanese cultures do not require leaders as much as western/American cultures. When and where things are established and routine, accepted and understood, the Japanese excel in ways that make western/Americans a bit jealous and often awed. On the other hand, crisis management is best handled by smaller numbers and individual thinkers who can collectively see more because they all see things differently.
There are other aspects as well and among these are in how errors, mistakes and anomalies are perceived and handled. When and where the first response is denial, it is an early sign of delayed problem resolution. In a crisis, delays in problem resolution are sometimes deadly. I believe we are seeing this at play now.
I once, in a committee with both Japanese and American members, pointed out that Columbus Day essentially celebrates a mistake of navigation and of understanding the world. The goal was to reach India. Columbus ended up somewhere else. We literally celebrate that and name things after this man. (The truth behind myth and legend is for another discussion and does not change the general truths, myths and legends the holiday actually celebrates in the hearts and minds of the people celebrating.) I pointed out that Americans, at times, celebrate mistakes. This is something the Japanese simply cannot do. The room went silent for a moment. Mistakes are not to be discussed, let alone acknowledged, in Japanese society.
I could go on and on about my experiences in this area, but each approach has its merit and each approach has led each culture into extremely successful growth and development in the world. After all, Japan and America (by which I mean the USA obviously) are highly developed and sophisicated world powers. To simplify and say one approach is wrong while another is right is ridiculous. Japan's way is "mastery" but it takes lifetimes and usually multiple lifetimes to achieve and maintain mastery of any given thing. America's way relies on talents, aptitudes and abilities of individuals to achieve great things. Which is better? We're both here at the same time after all.