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It's important to point out Fukushima was supposed to be decommissioned long time before it's accident. Unfortunately they had to keep it going as there was not

It's important to point out Fukushima was supposed to be decommissioned long time before it's accident. Unfortunately they had to keep it going as there was nothing to take it's place to generate the energy needed.

sliken 5y ago
Heh, I've heard it many times, the only problem with nuclear energy is politics. In particular Fukushima was in a stupid place, engineers were well aware of the the many 100s of years of experience with earthquakes in the ring of fire and calculated that a large expensive wall would be required to protect plant. The sensible place to put the plant was in a different prefecture. Politics intruded, the plant was put in a stupid place, and the expensive wall was shrunk.
- Tade0 5y ago
  I'm afraid that this is a problem which won't go away anytime soon: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58026038 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58026038 They leak was minor and not a risk, but they fact that they didn't follow best practices speaks volumes.
- MertsA 5y ago
  Hold on, you're overstating things here. When Fukushima was built they studied the topology of the surrounding oceans and the best models of tsunami generation at the time put the sea wall at Fukushima high enough to block everything they thought was possible from the strongest typhoons and tsunamis. The theory was wrong, there was a report in 2008 that concluded that a tsunami could possibly be large enough to overtop the sea wall. Furthermore, they didn't need to build some large expensive wall, they excavated the existing cliff in order to bring it down to 10 meters. They could have stopped at 15 meters if they had known that those waves were possible during construction. https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Tepco-Removed-Natural-Seawall-that-Would-Have-Protected-Daiichi-Facility.html https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Tepco-Rem...
- buzzwords 5y ago
  Selecting where to put a nuclear plant is mostly restricted by politics. "Not in my back yard" is a political issue, not an engineering one. Another point to consider, is that today's engineering is much safer than in Fukushima days.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  > Politics intruded You cannot have a massively expensive and centralized energy source without having huge political, military (!) and economical implications. And risks of corruption and coverups. There is no "intrusion". This is an intrinsic problem of such technology.

sliken 5y ago

Heh, I've heard it many times, the only problem with nuclear energy is politics. In particular Fukushima was in a stupid place, engineers were well aware of the the many 100s of years of experience with earthquakes in the ring of fire and calculated that a large expensive wall would be required to protect plant. The sensible place to put the plant was in a different prefecture. Politics intruded, the plant was put in a stupid place, and the expensive wall was shrunk.

Tade0 5y ago
I'm afraid that this is a problem which won't go away anytime soon: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58026038 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58026038 They leak was minor and not a risk, but they fact that they didn't follow best practices speaks volumes.
MertsA 5y ago
Hold on, you're overstating things here. When Fukushima was built they studied the topology of the surrounding oceans and the best models of tsunami generation at the time put the sea wall at Fukushima high enough to block everything they thought was possible from the strongest typhoons and tsunamis. The theory was wrong, there was a report in 2008 that concluded that a tsunami could possibly be large enough to overtop the sea wall. Furthermore, they didn't need to build some large expensive wall, they excavated the existing cliff in order to bring it down to 10 meters. They could have stopped at 15 meters if they had known that those waves were possible during construction. https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Tepco-Removed-Natural-Seawall-that-Would-Have-Protected-Daiichi-Facility.html https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Tepco-Rem...
buzzwords 5y ago
Selecting where to put a nuclear plant is mostly restricted by politics. "Not in my back yard" is a political issue, not an engineering one. Another point to consider, is that today's engineering is much safer than in Fukushima days.
goodpoint 5y ago
> Politics intruded You cannot have a massively expensive and centralized energy source without having huge political, military (!) and economical implications. And risks of corruption and coverups. There is no "intrusion". This is an intrinsic problem of such technology.