Gundersen speaking at NRC ACRS
Has anybody watched the video? http://fairewinds.com/
My guess is things are not getting any better.
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Has anybody watched the video? http://fairewinds.com/
My guess is things are not getting any better.
Shocking. Nothing 'natural
Shocking. Nothing 'natural nois-y' about this paper rustling etc. Our future is in the hands of these inhuman people. And if they wanted to be respectful of Gundersen, why did they only give him 5 minutes and the pro-nuclear people much longer to speak?
They can't keep pumping
They can't keep pumping water there forever. The Oklo natural reactors in South Africa ran off-and-on for an estimated 100,000 years. Human civilization is on a much shorter time track, maybe decades or less, at this level of complexity. With time, the radiation from the corium will continue to build, and could make these masses completely unapproachable, if not already the case. The risk of a further explosion and atmospheric spread of fuel plus fission products is certainly nonzero and the clock's ticking. Fuku may have been a rare natural disaster one-two punch to "nucular" power, and then maybe not so rare, considering the fragile state of affairs exposed, so to speak.
Globally, the nuclear power industry is in a zombie state, dead but no one has told them. Clock's ticking on decommissioning all these dangerous reactors, as well. Nuclear power is a not an independent energy alternative to fossil fuel. Running out of oil is proving to be a global bitch.
You obviously have a very
You obviously have a very fundamental lack of understanding of how radiation works and how reactors work.
Oklo was possible, and lasted as long as it did, because the percentage of U-235 that naturally occurred at that point inthe Earth's past was significantly higher than would ever be possible today from radioactive decay, or ever intended in a nuclear reactor.
Corium can't continue to fission forever. Reactors need to be refueled at least once a decade. After which the fuel remains hot, but not enough to boil water. After 15 years it can sit in the air without any cooling.
Some new reactor designs even depend on air cooling as passive safety for defense in depth.
Proclaimations of eternal radiation-spewing doom are just that.
not eternal....
but certainly long enough to compound the radiation pollution that has already occurred.
It sounds to me that even the people that are supposed to know how these things are supposed to work....don't. Seems clear that the regulatory agencies, assuming that containments *cannot* fail, certainly don't have a full understanding.
While many of us don't know how reactors work in detail, it's pretty clear that either the experts don't know as much as they think they know, or they don't care about the consequences. In either case, it's pretty disturbing.
Japan's problems stem from
Japan's problems stem from the technology, but also cultural norms that allowed bad decisions to be covered up and not exposed and fixed. Outside the box thinking is discouraged, and there is no such thing as leadership in a collectivist environment.
What was true before the disaster us just as true after the disaster, which is why it's still ongoing.
Clearly most of the water
Clearly most of the water that was pumped into the plant since mid March has gone into the ocean and the ground. The plant has more leaks than a wicker basket and all the talk about plugging leaks and storing water is mostly PR stuff. It may also be lucrative. AREVA has now come up with a system to treat (decontaminate) some stored water. Unfortunately the details of their treatment system and the details of the contract cannot be disclosed. The system may be meant to eliminate cesium and nothing else. The cost is also the subject of much talk. The site http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/ writes: "TEPCO said the details of the AREVA's water processing system were "not to be disclosed, due to the contractual obligation." http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/tepco-areva-contract-to-treat.html
"TEPCO claims AREVA's water processing facility will be ready in June and that will solve all kinds of problems. The cost of processing the contaminated water allegedly demanded by AREVA is 200 million yen (US$2.44 million) **per tonne.** (More about the shady AREVA contract later.)" http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/05/highly-contaminated-water-probably.html
So we have a corporation (TEPCO) in complete charge of dealing with a global and extremely serious public health issue, dealing as secretly as it wishes with other corporations, encouraged by its government to withhold information from the public, which of course will end up paying the (so far secret) cost of the (so far secret) treatments. We have the usual choir of industry shills telling everyone that things are okay. We have governments and health organizations refusing to monitor radiation and raising all previous safety levels.
In retrospect, Chernobyl, with all its initial cover up the first few days after the accident, seems now like a model of transparency and expediency once the government took charge of the situation.
Remember that you are
Remember that you are talking about the USSR with respect to Chernobyl; when wasn't the government 'in control'? There was no private industry running Chernobyl. It was only after Gobachev called out to the IAEA that the problem was even acknowledged. The damage was already done once the plume was detected in Scandinavia.
Chernobyl caused the USSR to fall. Say what you will, but the impact financially was significant enough to push a weak 'economy' past the point of no return. Japan may end up the same way.
Here is a site that shows
Here is a site that shows yesterday's energy production in California:
http://www.caiso.com/green/renewrpt/DailyRenewablesWatch.pdf
Wind usually makes tens of gigawatt-hours in a day. Renewables, as a group, often outdo nuclear in California.
Disrespect shown to Arnie Gundersen
Thank you to the person who posted this link.
I have been following Arnie Gundersen since the beginning of this debacle. We all owe him our undivided attention---after all, he trying to save life on this planet.
Seems like putting aside their cellphones, etc. for a mere 5 minutes should not be too much to ask of those in the nuclear industry!
Upsetting video--but truly elucidating.
You've obviously never been
You've obviously never been on a conferece bridge where people forgot to mute their phones. There is nothing intentional about what is shown in his video. This happens because participant callers are unaware that their phone is adding noise to the conference.
heh....
I'm sure that the phone is adding the paper rustling too....
It did get much quieter after the second admonition by whomever was on the other line - the phone/noise excuse sounds like just that, an excuse. It wasn't long until someone started shuffling papers again.
Even the person on the other side of the line said that folks weren't listening and paying attention.
Looks to me as they have
Looks to me as they have NO? Einsteins present at this meeting on the other end of the phone. I would fire the lot of them.