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To a first approximation, Fukushima did not cause any harm. I view the plant iself as a success story, given ancient reactor design etc. etc. I think a lot of
by Ericson2314 5y ago
To a first approximation, Fukushima did not cause any harm. I view the plant iself as a success story, given ancient reactor design etc. etc.
I think a lot of half-paying-attention people confused the reactor and the tsunami. Of course the news coverage and in-hindsight-unnecessary evacuation didn't help either.
- step21 5y ago"did not cause any harm" - for a very loose defintion of harm. Sure it could have been much worse. But enough ground and water was contaminated, and much more will be in the future when they run out of storage.
- Ericson2314 5y agoAnd how much ground water is contaminated with fossil fuel extraction?
- nsonha 5y agoRadio contamination is at a different level
- bananabreakfast 5y agoand who has actually been directly affected by this? I think it's your definition of harm that is too loose and overly inclusive. Your average oil spill does 100x more damage to the ecosystem and economy than fukushima
- rob74 5y agoSo Fukushima did no harm, because the 100 000 people who had to be evacuated were not harmed?
- Ericson2314 5y agoThey didn't need to be evacuated, or at least not so quickly --- at least in hindsight. I'm trying to compromise a bit with the "at least"s :)
- akamaka 5y agoFukushima’s design was not a success, and exposed new failure modes which hadn’t been fully understood. In response, nuclear operators around the world have spent billions to upgrade their safety systems. For example: https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/resources/fukushima/canada-improvements-post-fukushima.cfm https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/resources/fukushima/canada-i...
- aagd 5y ago'Not any harm' is quite a cynic formulation. Maybe a couple of hundred deaths seems relatively few, for such an enormous event. But the impact the event had on Japan, their economy and their mental state, was obviosly the worst since WW2. And Fukushima is still not under control. https://apnews.com/article/world-news-japan-tsunamis-5a5a70d852d2290d527123d3ec300c57 https://apnews.com/article/world-news-japan-tsunamis-5a5a70d... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-nuclear-idUSKCN11D0UF https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-nuclear-idUSKCN11D0...
- Ericson2314 5y agoDon't forget almost 20,000 people died in the tsunami, nuclear or not! I think the 6-7x 9/11 is the foundation of pain, even if nuclear is an extra salient cherry on top.
- fomine3 5y ago> But the impact the event had on Japan, their economy and their mental state, was obviously the worst since WW2. I don't know. For who lived near the plant and escaped, it's definitely true. But for others, Lost decades are serious than the accident.