4 ms·

Spending nearly 1/6th of Japan's GDP to clean up 0.45% of the nuclear waste dumped into the ocean is worth consideration. If the earthquake had happened 20 year

by bhawks 2y ago

Spending nearly 1/6th of Japan's GDP to clean up 0.45% of the nuclear waste dumped into the ocean is worth consideration. If the earthquake had happened 20 years earlier (nothing on tectonic timescales) this wouldn't be up to much discussion. If you were to commit such a large amount of cash - a reparation for the disaster - would you spend it all on this?

natmaka 2y ago
> 0.45% of the nuclear waste Do you mean that the Fukushima nuclear accident dumped locally in a few days 0.45% of all dumped nuclear waste during the last ~80 years?"? If so it seems non-negligible to me. > 20 years earlier (nothing on tectonic timescales) this wouldn't be up to much discussion Not sure about this. Maybe ~50 years ago, and even so the accident at Three Mile Island (1979) didn't pollute much but triggered quite a bunch of discussions. > would you spend it all on this? Yes, because there is no other realistic way: it is about losing citizens' trust and having to cope with other nations' claims, whatever the real risk. Associations of women were created to periodically measure radioactivity in various areas! In Japan! No government exposed to such distrust can decide to ignore it. A stain was made, it has to be cleaned.
- FeepingCreature 2y ago
  Feels like the question here is, is the point of the government primarily to govern well or to make voters happy?
  - natmaka 2y ago
    Indeed, in more than one way. AFAIK in theory the people knows what is good for itself, and therefore making voters happy is governing well. ObQuote: https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form-of-government/ https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form...
- lupusreal 2y ago
  "Triggered quite a lot of discussions" is an ultra-low bar. Lots of hysterical bullshit triggers a lot of discussion. Aliens, puzzagate, etc. TMI was an expensive mistake but the public wasn't at risk.
  - natmaka 2y ago
    ... thanks to sheer luck as, AFAIK, no-one knows exactly why the reactor didn't completely melt, threatening the vessel and therefore containment.

by bhawks 2y ago

natmaka 2y ago

> 0.45% of the nuclear waste Do you mean that the Fukushima nuclear accident dumped locally in a few days 0.45% of all dumped nuclear waste during the last ~80 years?"? If so it seems non-negligible to me. > 20 years earlier (nothing on tectonic timescales) this wouldn't be up to much discussion Not sure about this. Maybe ~50 years ago, and even so the accident at Three Mile Island (1979) didn't pollute much but triggered quite a bunch of discussions. > would you spend it all on this? Yes, because there is no other realistic way: it is about losing citizens' trust and having to cope with other nations' claims, whatever the real risk. Associations of women were created to periodically measure radioactivity in various areas! In Japan! No government exposed to such distrust can decide to ignore it. A stain was made, it has to be cleaned.

FeepingCreature 2y ago
Feels like the question here is, is the point of the government primarily to govern well or to make voters happy?
- natmaka 2y ago
  Indeed, in more than one way. AFAIK in theory the people knows what is good for itself, and therefore making voters happy is governing well. ObQuote: https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form-of-government/ https://winstonchurchill.org/resources/quotes/the-worst-form...
lupusreal 2y ago
"Triggered quite a lot of discussions" is an ultra-low bar. Lots of hysterical bullshit triggers a lot of discussion. Aliens, puzzagate, etc. TMI was an expensive mistake but the public wasn't at risk.
- natmaka 2y ago
  ... thanks to sheer luck as, AFAIK, no-one knows exactly why the reactor didn't completely melt, threatening the vessel and therefore containment.