Pakistan Builds Nuclear Reactors In Karachi, Sparking Fears of Disaster

schwit1 writes World leaders have fretted for years that terrorists may try to steal one of Pakistan's nuclear bombs and detonate it in a foreign country. But some Karachi residents say the real nuclear nightmare is unfolding here in Pakistan's largest and most volatile city. Of all places to locate a nuclear reactor, they argue, who could possibly make a case for this one — on an earthquake-prone seafront vulnerable to tsunamis and not far from where al-Qaeda militants nearly hijacked a Pakistan navy vessel last fall.

Comments

It be 12m above sea - max Tsunami: 7m

[tp1024]

This must be the most moronic article I've read in a long time.

3/4 of the way down the text it says the only relevant piece of information: "Minhaj said concerns about the effect of a tsunami are also overblown because the new reactors are being built on a rock ledge about 39 feet above sea level."

That's 12m above the sea. The tsunami generated by a mag 9.0 earthquake is expected to be between 0.9m and 7m high - so the plant will have 5m margin ABOVE THE WORST CASE.

Shut up everyone, you've been lied to.

Re:It be 12m above sea - max Tsunami: 7m

[tp1024]

There was none. They used the 1960 tsunami in Japan for reference in Fukushima Daiichi (unlike e.g. Onagawa) - which reached a height of 4.5m. This tsunami was caused by the 1960 Chile earthquake on the other side of the planet, across the pacific.

Yes, baseline nuclear safety in Japan was that crappy - most operators went way beyond the baseline, but at least one didn't.

Re:It be 12m above sea - max Tsunami: 7m

[zm]

A brand new 21st century reactor != Fukushima Daiichi 1960 BWR design. Nor 1950's RBMK design for that matter. Misleading panicky comparisons lead nowhere.

Re:It be 12m above sea - max Tsunami: 7m

[tp1024]

The nuclear power plants will be ACP1000s. There is half a century of experience between the ACP1000 and the BWR-3/4 used in Fukushima Daiichi. And wouldn't you know it, there have been improvements in the meantime!

http://www.nucnet.org/all-the-...

It's a combined passive and active design, it doesn't need power to cool the reactor or the containment, but it has powered cooling systems in addition to the passive ones. -> NOT FUKUSHIMA.
A backup generator that is above the Tsunami will not be flooded and will not fail because of flooding because it isn't being flooded. -> NOT FUKUSHIMA.
An emergency stop of a nuclear reacto needs cooling or it will melt the core, which is being provided for in a much more adequate fashion than in Fukushima. -> NOT FUKUSHIMA.
The ACP1000 is a pressurized reactor in a large dry containment, that can contain a molten core without overpressurizing the containment. It is not a small "pressure supression" containment that has been known since at least 1966 to be unable to contain a molten core - which is a statement made by none other than the vendor, General Electric. -> NOT FUKUSHIMA.

Re:It be 12m above sea - max Tsunami: 7m

[itzly]

You know what'll stop backward hicks like ISIS? Technical and social advance

Keep dreaming. People who are eager to destroy 6000 year old artefacts aren't interested in your technical and social advance.

Re:It be 12m above sea - max Tsunami: 7m

[Gavagai80]

That's exactly the point. They destroy tech and education and social artifacts because they know that the more desperate and hopeless and disconnected the people feel, the more of them will turn to extremism and the easier the rest will be to control.

Re:It be 12m above sea - max Tsunami: 7m

[MrL0G1C]

A tsunami that high is not seen as a possible scenario

The tide varies by over 2.5m
Normal waves can reach over 10m in height.
The reactor is built at only 12m above sea level !!!
The same coast of Pakistan has already had a 15m tsunami in the last century.
The India Ocean produced a 30meter Tsunami just a decade ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

So, it doesn't sound so impossible to me, I don't hear of anyone actually having modeled various earthquake tsunami scenarios for Karachi.

Re:In Karachi?

[circletimessquare]

new orleans

Population (2013)[1]
    City and Parish 378,715 (US: 51st)
    Metro 1,240,977 (US: 45th)

karachi

Population (2013)
    Total 23,500,000[1]
    Rank 1st (Pakistan), 2nd (World)

new orleans is a cute little rural suburb compared to karachi

having driven to new orleans a number of times, i've seen myself that 20 miles out from new orleans it is nothing but scrub and mangroves. i can understand within new orleans itself you feel like you are in a dense city, because there's nothing else around, and you're the center of that area of the country. but this is a provincial judgment

world cities are mind blowing compared to american cities

here in new york city, a huge fucking megacity by usa standards but a puny light weight by world standards, 20 miles out is still dense and urban

Population (2013)[5]
    Total 8,405,837[1]
    Rank 1st, U.S., 24th (World)

so: 20 miles from the city center of karachi is still pretty much in the middle of dense giant fucking karachi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

pakistani military is known for professionalism

[circletimessquare]

but some of their loyalties are divided, and in secret

and with so much sectarian hatred, political instability, and poverty in that country, i fear that the most probable scenario for a purposeful nuclear attack in this world (so not accidental, probably plant sabotage) will be in pakistan

i don't think the west has anything to fear. i think india does somewhat. but i think pakistanis have the most to fear by far

there is a lot of bloodlust over there. and not the random yahoo kind, but the organized sectarian kind

i fear for you pakistan

Re:In Karachi?

[circletimessquare]

that is precisely what the powers-that-be want

paklistan is full of conspiratorial minded morons

every tragedy or event in pakistan, where pakistanis can face their shortcomings, come to grips with it, and move forward: nope. instead loopy hilarious conspiracies that shifts blame to the west, to the jews, to india, to iran, etc. keeps them mired in poverty, backwardness, blind denial, strife, and stupidity. every problem in pakistan is never the fault of pakistanis, it's all due to plots and secret cabals and manipulations from abroad. fucking ignorant bullsit

here in the west we can safely laugh at paranoid schizophrenic low iq conspiracy minded douchebags. such losers are everywhere in the world. but a free society with free speech and a free press, the full light of day reveals their delusional rantings, they are ridiculed, and they are safely exiled to the backseat of the short bus and only are compelling to weak minded ignorant halfwits

but in countries where lies, censorship, prideful ethnic and sectarian denial, etc. dominates, the mental diarrhea of conspiracies has a great power and takes hold in that darkness of no free thought, no free press, no free speech

so when i see you write "that is precisely what the powers-that-be want", all i think is yup: there's another fucking problem with pakistan: conspiracy theory nutcases everywhere