3 ms·
From the article, it seems as though experts are saying the design of the reactors by GE didn't take into account that Japan has earthquakes. GE was never name
by sudonim 15y ago
From the article, it seems as though experts are saying the design of the reactors by GE didn't take into account that Japan has earthquakes.
GE was never named directly, but wikipedia says it was their design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_Nuclear_Power_Plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_Nuclear_Power...
- marshray 15y agoAFAICT the plants reacted to and withstood the earthquakes fairly well. The tsunami on the other hand...well I guess nuke plants and 14 meter high walls of water don't mix.
- nathanb 15y agoI believe the main problem wasn't the damage to the plants so much as the loss of power and unreliability of backup power, a known and critical flaw in an earthquake-prone area.
- marshray 15y agoThe term "plant" includes all the surrounding equipment. Batteries, backup generators, fuel reserves, etc. My understanding is that if a functioning subset of generators had survived they could have powered the cooling pumps and the problem would have just been keeping them refueled. You can truck-in or airlift-in fuel quicky, so this would have been a very manageable problem in the short and medium terms, much more so than repairing long spans of downed electrical distribution lines.
- yena 15y agoActually we don't know that, since most of the reactor building in inaccessible. Also, the latest info from Tepco says that they lost coolant before the tsunami struck, which suggest major earthquake damage. However, if the tsunami hadn't been this severe and they had kept power, perhaps they could have brought the situation under control.
- marshray 15y agoWow, nice of them to admit that now. Seems pretty important. Do you have a link perchance?