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Future of nuclear power brighter than ever, despite Fukushima

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Nuclear is like credit cards. Enjoy now, pay later.

27 ( +27 / -2 )

As far as I know the nuclear industry still hasn't figured out a good way to dispose of deadly radioactive nuclear waste. Or have they?

13 ( +13 / -1 )

Its headlines like this which make me so unbelievably angry. If Japan, and the rest of the world doesn't learn from history this time, then the next time a nuclear accident happens, and there will be a next time, we are going to have to go through the whole debacle again. Its ridiculous. Its not sustainable living, and Marcelito is right, it is always the little people who have to suffer the consequences and pick up the bill.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

What a farce!! This is blatant propaganda from GE?? Mitsubishi??

2 ( +6 / -3 )

Who says the Japanese government can't learn from its own mistakes?

EVERYBODY!!!

4 ( +6 / -2 )

If Japan cannot properly manage safety for nuclear power, then what can we expect from Belarus, Bangaldesh and other countries?

Very few people consider the nuclear pollution in Kazakhstan and parts of central asia where some places are so contaminated that they are unlivable. Which should worry all human beings about the risks associated with nuclear power, nuclear waste and radioactive materials.

But let's face reality. This article, and many others like it, are propaganda set to reassure us of the fact that people closer to the issues, and assumed to be better informed are assured of the safety of nuclear power. The industry is seeing a brighter and more optimistic future, the articles suggest, so we should accept it and trust in the wisdom of the industry.

But the bottom line here is simple. Capitalism is dependent upon endless growth and expansion, nuclear power is the only current power generation option that can assure that. And so it will continue to proliferate world wide.

What is really needed is a paradigm shift away from Capitalism based upon endless growth and a shift to a system that is designed around sustainability and conservation. With such a shift the power of nuclear energy is no longer required and we can assure a world with far less risk of catastrophic nuclear accidents. But few articles will offer up this idea in the mainstream press.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Is this headline intentional? I would be wary of using the phrase 'brighter than ever' in defending nuclear energy

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Headline should have been - Future of nuclear power GLOWING brighter than ever.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

What is this? 'You are all going to believe that nuclear power is safe whether you like it or not' week? 'Despite Fukushima..' as in 'let's just ignore that unsightly mess'? I am no nuclear expert. Far, far from it but one thing I have learnt. As long as companies and various official bodies are more interested in lining their own pockets rather than ensuring safety procedures are adhered to, nuclear plants are ticking time bombs. For all the technology, the state of the art architecture or equipment,it is most essential that companies run the plants to the highest safety standards. And an outside independent body with no vested financial interests ensures they do. As we have sadly learnt this last year, that was most certainly not the case with Dai Ichi.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

@Zichi,

Regarding the article being paid by someone.

I have no evidence, but yes, my immediate reaction upon reading it was that it must certainly break article two of the AFP fundamental principles.

Article 2

"Agence France-Presse may not under any circumstances take account of influences or considerations that >would >compromise the accuracy or objectivity of the news; it must not under any circumstances pass under legal or de facto >control of an ideological, political or economic group."

It is however written cleverly enough to include a couple of negative points towards the end to try to make it look fair and balanced. I have looked into the strategies used by these guys and what their operational procedures are in response to an accident, and this rimes well with it. It is pretty consistent for any major incident/accident over the years.

The phases their PR machine goes trough after an accident is something like the below:

--- At first ----

*Deny anything is going on.

*Astro turfers ridicule the critics as scaredee cats

*Official statements admitting something is going on, but not dangerous.

*Astro turfers tout new and safer designs of NPPs, that has been in design phase for 40 years, but still not implemented.

*Official statements about Heroes are working to make sure it will not become dangerous.

*Astro turfers ridicule the critics as unscientific.

*Offical slience, let the critics empty their ammunition.

*Astro turfers ridicule alternative energy sources

--- Some time later, depending on distance to and severity of accident. ---

*Official statements about, we learned our lesson, and improved.

*Astro turfers say we can not afford to close down NPPs

*Official statements about the problems with other energy sources

*Official statements about war (Wich will drive up oil prices) also serves to get the people behind their gov.

--- And Finally ---

And finally the attention span of the public is reached, and as eyes turn to other matters, we can get back to making money, which is what this is really all about right?

There are huge investments at risk here, and it would be silly of the public believing that the industry organs would not try to protect them by any means.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

designed around sustainability and conservation

Maybe J-gov thinks they got that part pwned, with all the back scraping going on.

But true in principle: everything that doesn't have counter weights will spin out of control, like capitalism. For present, Japan needs to establish a functioning regulatory body to govern nuclear energy. With cool superpowers.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

“nuclear renaissance,”

Music to my ear! We hear many liberal media lie about nuclear power the past year. The fact is that nuclear power is the safe,environment friendly choice for the future.

The anti nuclear power camp is a propaganda machine designed to destroy the economy of Japan. Think about who that would benefit, then you realize who is behind it.

-16 ( +1 / -15 )

I agree to most of the posts above. This article is a nuisance.

Fukushima has been widely described as a disaster, but so far no fatalities have been attributed to it.

How actually would you know? People were evacuated without being told of the situation soon after the buildings exploded. People who might have been alive, could not be rescued because the whole area was shut out. That, I will count as attribution from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Also you must not forget the worker who died (I think of a heart attack?) on the job maybe not from direct radiation but stress from the hopeless working environment. His death was accepted as work-related.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

People will never learn. Sadly, it's largely the corporations and governments that make these decisions and rake in the profits while it's always the people who suffer in the event of accidents, and another will occur.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Yes clearly the IAEA is to nuke power as JA is to agriculture!

BOTH are a plague.

Its truly disgusting how big biz around the world "managed" this Fukushima "incident" (thats what the world will soon be refering to it as if at all!). The way they controlled & continue to manipulate the media is pretty bad, I fear we are in for some s^%$ty times ahead, with China & India fast forwarding nuke plants its highly likely we will see multiple accidents that affect huge numbers of people.

I wud hate to be a young person watching how we are *&^%ing up so much in so many areas, globally we are becoming lemmmings heading for a god damned cliff!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

At least some countries like Italy and Germany phasing out nuclear power. Sadly though as all their neighbours have so many nuclear power stations, any disaster, say in France, might end up blowing contamination into Germany anyway! It would be good if we could invest more in reducing energy consumption and get rid of the need for nuclear power. Despite improved safety claims and lessons learned I think it is only a matter of time before the next nuke disaster happens. Where and When??? Just like nandakandamanda mentioned in the first commet - Nuclear is like credit cards. Enjoy now, pay later.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"We now know since the nuclear disaster that the IAEA is clearly on the side of Big Nuke"

So is enyone with any sense.Japan has no oil, so we need nuclear power for our industry,to power mighty economy. Those who oppose nuclear power have the sole motivation of ruining the economy of Japan.

-12 ( +0 / -11 )

@j4pnFTW

So is enyone with any sense.Japan has no oil, so we need nuclear power for our industry,to power mighty economy.

Japan has no Uranium mining either but that is OK to import right?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I'll admit it, there was a big sarcastic WTF....when I read how Japan had avoided a disaster as bad as Chernobyl.....Did I fall into a coma, enter a time warp and during that time none of the fuel rods at Fukushima melted? Yeah, I didn't think so.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

SquidBertMAR,

Japan has no Uranium mining either but that is OK to import right?

Yes,of course.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

squid,

pretty good outline of what those A-holes in PR do, I many of them have nightmares every god damned time they hit a pillow!

Folks, we are heading for confrontation & it may not be one country against another, think about, we really are being shafted & we are getting way too lemming like.............

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@j4p4nFTW, Considering your usually nationalistic (well if you are Japanese) tone, I would have thought you would much prefer domestically produced renewable energy (or perhaps burning wale blubber). But you prefer giving Japans money to foreign countries, is that it?

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Surely this story is a gee up. Nuclear power is the way of the future? Isn't that what Homer Simpson's boss used to say?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Future of nuclear power brighter than ever, despite Fukushima

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Right.... shining real bright around Fukushima.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

japanFTW: "Music to my ear! We hear many liberal media lie about nuclear power the past year. The fact is that nuclear power is the safe,environment friendly choice for the future."

I take it you don't live anywhere near Fukushima then? If we look at Fukushima, one fact that stands out is that nuclear power, in the wrong hands, is not safe or environmentally friendly. I suppose it might be possible to achieve those aims, but not in Japan. Here, the utilities routinely lie about safety tests, cover up their wrongdoings and ignore evidence of earthquakes and tsunamis in favour of saving money.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@SquidBert

I would have thought you would much prefer domestically produced renewable energy (or perhaps burning wale blubber).

Thank you for comment, kind sir. It is important that we can have frankly and honest discusssion on points such as this one. Then we are able to exchange idea and eventual come to agreement on Japanese point of view is correct.

Renewable energy is not effective. We know that windmill decimates bird populations. Solar energy does not take into account peak sun.

For us to profit from equity holdings in TEPCO (A japanese environmental friendly power company), nuclear energy is beat choice.

-14 ( +0 / -14 )

j4p4nFTW. You are standing with your nose to the tree and missing the forest my friend. Japan's economy may well depend upon exponential power generation today, but it does not have to. You are making an incorrect assumption.

Japan can and should be the global technology leader for alternative energy including rebuilding Tohoku as an "Energy Valley" industrial development zone with tax benefits for companies setting up green and alternative energy solution businesses. Now that is how you grow Japan's economy. Not this nonsense of going back to a model that will clearly cost Japan more than it benefits the nation.

Don't buy into the pro-nuke propaganda. We need it today, but it can and should be replaced with new solutions within the next 20-30 years. Don't get stuck in the mud. Move Japan forward and be the pioneer of green solutions.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"Renewable energy is not effective." Nonsense!

Nuclear waste, the risk of disasters present far too much risk to human society and to Japan. You need to think outside the box friend.

Sustainability is the key for Japan. With near flat economic growth and a declining work population Japan needs to be looking at sustainability models and a flat economy rather than traditional capitalist growth models. This is what many economists are calling for and green energy fits very well into this model.

Wind does not decimate bird populations. That is not a proven reality.

Solar is only one possible solution. One that is rapidly developing new technologies and has considerable potential for the future.

You are leaving out wave/tide power generation, geothermal, biomatter and a dozen other solutions that have strong combined contributions to sustainable power.

One last reality you need to grasp. Oil is past peak and in decline. The entire world must shift from a model of growth and consumption to one of sustainability and balance. It is that or face an inevitable crash.

6 ( +5 / -0 )

This report is sponsored by TEPCO! it is nothing but a long winded load of crap written to brainwash the sheep into believing nuclear power is safe. And, of course, the sheep are gonna buy into it.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Japan doesn't need to rely on nuclear power.

Japan is one of the richest nations in the world in terms of thermal energy sources. All they have to do is wake up and use it (for something other than hotsprings).

5 ( +5 / -0 )

those within the nuclear industry itself are now saying the future of atomic power is brighter than ever.

It's evident where the comments are coming from. Some people never learn, because they are focused on their own gain only.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Japan is one of the richest nations in the world in terms of thermal energy sources.

However the nuclear energy lobby is a powerful and dangerous one.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Also, uranium is running out, just like oil and cole etc, as it says in the quotation below. Beside alternative energy resources reasonable consumtion is needed, or a way to start wanting that, since now most people still want more rather than less. Wanting less is perhaps not in man's nature, but there must be some way around that, in order not to reach accute shortages of resources to live from and the suffering it would bring.

“…there are currently 440 operating nuclear reactors with a further 65 under construction. Operating nuclear reactors require the equivalent of about 68 000 tons of natural uranium ore every year. ... Given that one-third of the ‘known’ deposits are only an estimate, a more accurate interpretation would be that perhaps enough uranium exists to operate the existing nuclear power plants for about 70 years."

(http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0019/001938/193840e.pdf)

8 ( +8 / -0 )

In almost all the countries,the common people are good citizens while a handful of the overgreedy,malicious and mentally sick industrialists and politicians and bureaucrats who are addicted to make maximum money with least cost within the shortest time are occupying high positions in society zanxd they influence the prime ministers and presidents in many countries.Having been elected by the people to serve the public,they immediately become prisoners of these business lobbyists and forget public service motto. Actually the people in a democrasy have to be vigilant about their administrators by constantly questioning the reasons for all their development projects by demanding them to prepare Environmental Impact Analysis reports and cost-benefit analysis and hold public hearings to receive public suggestions to make the projects exconomical and ecologically sound without becoming counter productive in the long run. Today,Japanese know that Fukushima cost them about four to five trillion yens while the economic returns are negligible if you consider the long term health costs and costs of decommissioning.If Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing impacts have not made Japanese more humane even as Buddhists,whom should we blame/ The New Wave Culture of Corrupt practices will ultimately make societies as parts of sick nations and that is the object of creation of mankind and Nature by the Almighty GOD. So,for the sake of society at large,Japan must take the lead to follow Gandhian path which says that apeaceful world needs that we must live simple lives with high thinking so that we make way for our pogeny to live happily. Abandon nuclear plants not only in Japan but also in all other countries.Lat not societies make terrorists out of people on a large scale so that we invite unrest,war and poverty and sickness all over the world prof.T.Shivaji Rao, Director,centre for environmental studies.Gitam University,visakhapatnam,India

1 ( +1 / -1 )

http://sayonara-nukes.org/cat/action/

Time to protest.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Zichi

Oil is not a big part of power generation and there has been no significant increase in oil imports since 3/11. Coal is more used than oil and LNG is more used. There has been no increase in coal but the use of LNG has increased by about 30%.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-13/japanese-power-utilities-lng-imports-rise-to-5-2-million-tons-in-january.html

January 2011 power fuels imports vs January 2012:

Fuel Oil: 300% increase. Crude Oil: 300% increase. LNG: 37% increase. Coal: 12% increase.

300% is a significant increase in Oil Imports.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The article is simply stating a fact. While some rich Western countries bow to the politically correct pressure to phase out nuclear power, the rest of the world is going full throttle on it.

Of course it is necessary to search for new sources of energy. But in the real world, outside fossil fuels, nuclear is the only realistic option there is. All these politically correct dreams about windmilling and solar pannelling into a lalala future while maintaining a modern society are just that... pipedreams.

Those are the facts, and "rating" a message that states them with minus points does not change them.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

WilliB. I am sure once upon a time continental railroads, transatlantic airlines and internet were just lalala pipedreams. But it is funny how necessity grows solutions to even the most insurmountable problems.

What you need, dear friend, is a little less stuck in the mud adherence to the status quo and lot more time looking at the plethora of solutions available to assure safer provision of energy. It isn't lalala. It is progress and it is inevitable progress at that.

We can only hope we don't irradiate our world too much in the mean time. Human arrogance in our ability to control the dangers of nuclear power will one day bite us even harder than Fukushima. At least in my vision for the future, we will be well on the path to new solutions. If we follow your's we will be nowhere.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Its time the little people got together and make it perfectly clear to the nuclear power industry, and the Powers that Be, that nuclear power has no future at all. Nuclear power is finished. Time to be responsible, not blindly following the yen/$$ without a thought to the real human cost of making things noone really needs.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Within 5 years, or 10 at the most there will be a scientific breakthrough. We won't need nuclear power. So start winding down now.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@ WilliB. The facts you mention are the ones from the N-Village cloud. The real facts about NPP are hidden. That's the way on how has been built the Nuclear Myth. By not disclosing the truth about NPP, the N-Village pushes the people questioning the NPP to make/state sometimes wrong arguments and this gives ammunition to the N-Village. Very well trained and highly financed PR. When truly independent agencies will replace the current ones, I might change my mind about NPP. Until then, NO way!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

If Japan had put the time, technology and money into developing geothermal power they would be a world leader by now, but instead, they are now a world loser. The technology exists to produce geothermal energy in sufficient quantities, but the power companies in are exactly that, 'power' companies with too much influence on governmental policy, which leaves Japan stuck with nuclear energy. I would not matter if 4or 5 million people were killed in last year's fiasco, Japan would stay with nuclear power cos the 'power' companies have a firm grip on Japan's goolies.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"However, a year on from the March 2011 crisis, commentators and those within the nuclear industry itself are now saying the future of atomic power is brighter than ever."

Those outside the nuclear industry most likely have the opposite opinion......

0 ( +0 / -0 )

This is not news. This is propaganda. Bright future? If that is the case, it is a radioactive one.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"People are scared to death," says Wolfgang Weiss, chairman of the U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, which is studying Fukushima. "They are thinking, 'Tell me. Is it good or bad?' We can't tell them. ... Life is risky."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

OK, I'm probably more pro-nuclear power than anti-nuclear, but even I can't swallow the premise of the headline. Fission-based nuclear power plants ARE dangerous to operate and as soon as we find a safer alternative that can provide power as cheaply and as consistently as nuclear power, I'll be jumping bandwagons faster than you can blink. Nuke power plants may get tighter safety sstandards after 3/11, but Mother Nature still trumps ANYTHING man can do. Just because our earthquake scales stop at 7.0 (for damage) and 9.0 (for raw power) doesn't mean Mama Nature doesn't have a 10.0 earthquake up her sleeve.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

yasukuni Mar. 08, 2012 - 07:57PM JST

Within 5 years, or 10 at the most there will be a scientific breakthrough. We won't need nuclear power. So start winding down now.

With what power source, and of what form?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Fadamor Mar. 08, 2012 - 11:14PM JST

OK, I'm probably more pro-nuclear power than anti-nuclear, but even I can't swallow the premise of the headline. Fission-based nuclear power plants ARE dangerous to operate and as soon as we find a safer alternative that can provide power as cheaply and as consistently as nuclear power, I'll be jumping bandwagons faster than you can blink.

It depends on the design the Canadian CANDU reactors are designed to fail-safe without any power, and have things like quenching tanks of water located above the reactor core so that the water can be dumped down by gravity alone.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Zichi,

The Bloomberg link is focused on the fuels used for power - the Ministry of Finance Data obviously includes oil for transport and heating, look:

January 2012 crude oil fell 2.1% from the same month 2011. 18.83 million kilolitres.

From the Bloomberg link "Oil imports almost tripled to 1.34 million kiloliters"

http://interfaxenergy.com/natural-gas-news-analysis/asia-pacific/japans-lng-imports-spike-in-january-2012/

This link has exactly the same power data as the Bloomberg one I posted earlier

From the Federation of Power Companies. Total power: Oil 7.1%. LNG 29.3%. Coal 24.9%. hydro 8.3%. Nuclear ? the loss of nuclear power has been taken up by increasing LNG.

Got a link for that data?

Your link shows can in January there was a drop in consumption of coal.

And yet the extra Coal purchased will be burnt for power eventually, and the tripled volume of Fuel and Crude Oil is being burnt now.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Maybe nuclear energy isn't dangerous, but the men who want to use it and make billions surly are!

A cry for better regulation? I'm not against that - though given how corrupt the whole shebang is in Japan why it should be limited to just power generation is beyond me...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Not sure about Japan's reactors, but the reactors in the U.S. are supposed to have containment vessels that can resist an impact from an airliner. There is nothing on the face of the earth that can be protected from a direct strike by a meteorite a couple of meters in diameter.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It depends on the design the Canadian CANDU reactors are designed to fail-safe without any power, and have things like quenching tanks of water located above the reactor core so that the water can be dumped down by gravity alone.

All reactors are designed to "fail-safe" without any power. All that means is the fuel rods get lowered back down into the control rods to terminate the chain reaction. The rods still need to be cooled and if there is no emergency power to run pumps, having a tank of water above the reactor isn't going to help much because the water will not be flowing around the fuel rods. It will just sit there. Your only "flow" will be convection-based as the water gets heated and rises, then sinks as more heated water takes it's place. In short order you have hot water sinking as even hotter water rises - a gradual thermal runaway situation. You can SAY that CANDU reactors have the cooling issue covered, but Japan felt the same about their reactors. The idea that all the pumps would be rendered inoperational was considered impossible. NOTHING is impossible except for the value of my house returning to what it was when I bought it.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

On Monday, IAEA chief Yukio Amano said nuclear power had become safer since the disaster and that the industry had “come a long way” in the intervening 12 months. Safer? Tell it to the Marines.

Patrick Criqui, an economist at France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), said Germany “is going to be an interesting real-life experiment” about whether the switch to a renewables-based system will work. Economist? What do you know about Nukes hehehehe

Fukushima has been widely described as a disaster, but so far no fatalities have been attributed to it. This Criqui is an amoeba.... Start counting 10 years from now. You're an economist and not a physician.

John Ritch, director general of the World Nuclear Association (WNA) in London, argued that the industry had “inadvertently” emerged stronger from Fukushima. How much bribed did you received from Nuke Reactor builders like GE , Westinghouse etc

2 ( +2 / -0 )

That fossil fuels has and continues to kill exponentially more people every year and are THE cause of global warming which if left unchecked will create millions of refugees doesn't seem to bother anyone! Unless we end our voracious appetite for energy, it seems we are going to need something to save us in the interim while we develop green technologies...

1 ( +2 / -1 )

zichiMar. 08, 2012 - 11:51PM JST

Star-Viking,

Coal is also used by the steel industry. Following the disasters, there's an increase in demand for steel.

So what? The data I was referring to was just for the power industry, and I quoted it in response to you post of Mar. 08, 2012 - 10:30AM where you were writing about the use of fossil fuels in the power industry.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Zichi

Nuclear power plants have no protection against being struck by an airliner, accidental or terrorist like what happened with 9/11 or from being struck by a large meteorite.

Yes they do - they're called Air Forces, or in Japan's case the Air Self-Defense Force.

As for the large meteorite, the impact itself would be of more concern than it hitting the NPP.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Fadamor,

there's more on the CANDU safety features here http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/967796 and on the Wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDU_reactor.

Some excerpts from the Wiki:

The deliberately "sluggish" response of the fission process in CANDU allows controllers more time to diagnose and deal with problems.

The fuel channels can only maintain criticality if they are mechanically sound.

The CANDU designs have several emergency cooling systems, as well as having limited self-pumping capability through thermal means

Even in the event of a catastrophic accident and core meltdown, it is important to remember that the fuel is not critical in light water.

There are two independent, fast-acting safety shutdown systems as well. Shutoff rods are held above the reactor by electromagnets, and drop under gravity into the core to quickly end criticality. This system works even in the event of a complete power failure, as the electromagnets only hold the rods out of the reactor when power is available. A secondary system injects a high-pressure gadolinium nitrate neutron absorber solution into the calandria.

There are plenty of back-ups in this system.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

And what would happen in an all out war? Or imagine a country targeting its enemy's nuclear reactor(s) and vice versa.

What if power supplies are interrupted to a reactor indefinitely?

How can meltdowns be avoided?

Nuclear fallout does not respect international boundaries and leaves a deadly legacy for generations to come!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What that mean, is that they won't give up nuclear power until everyone of the Japanese is glowing like a bulb.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Nationalism and monetary gain makes people lose their perspective on what is better for them sometime, according to the trend earthquakes are occurring at an alarming rate all over the globe at this time. Just the other day I experience one in NYC, to tell the truth it was very disconcerting, because we haven't had one this big in years. .Fukushima now and where else tomorrow, because as sure as hell from the aftershocks you are experiencing in Japan, it can be assumed that there are lava flow pressure building up and seeking release, if and when this occur it will be bigger than the last time. And I will go so far to predict, this will be very dangerous for nuclear plants. Because they will not be able to withstand the kind of quake that will be coming soon to Japan. And then what will special interest do for you?.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Unfortunately, the premise of this article is true. As long as there is money to be made now, the devil make take tomorrow.

"As far as I know the nuclear industry still hasn't figured out a good way to dispose of deadly radioactive nuclear waste. Or have they?"

In Japan they burn it in the largest city in the nation and throw the ashes into Tokyo Bay. What's left they feed to school pupils at lunch.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Fukushima was no disaster, no matter how you spin it, says Geoff Russell (http://t.co/HcSfi1ty )

The Japanese government has gained more than a billion dollars in royalty revenue on imported LNG in the last three quarters of 2011, as a result of its aggressively antinuclear handling of the loss of the nuclear power plants.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The government failed to prevent contaminated food reaching the market including baby formula.

Well, that was primarily the fault of the manufacturer - they had been warned by their workers that part of the production process involved exposing the formula to outside air, and the management ignored this.

Also, the contamination was pretty minuscule, if I recall correctly.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

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