Thirty Minutes Over Fukushima

I’ve done a pretty comprehensive video today about the misinformation and hyperbole surrounding the incident at the Fukushima-I nuclear power plant that was damaged by the recent earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan 4 days ago.

What astounds me is the sheer treacle of sensationalist coverage we’ve had to tread through in order to get to some gems which rationalise what has happened and the possible ramifications therein.

If you listen to the BBC, Sky or ITV news, or read any major paper in Britain, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that the End is nigh and that we’re all about to be vaporised by the out-of-control reactors a Fukushima. In a flash of light we’ll all be turned to just shadows imprinted on the ground and incinerated if, as is suspected, Chernobyl 2 happens any second now.

Of course, if you read some of the more sane articles, you’ll realise that the Fukushima plant’s reactors are indeed damaged, but the probability of the entirety of Japan going up in a nuclear inferno are zero. All it comprises of is MELTDOWN! MELTDOWN! MELTDOWN!

The worst that’s going to happen is that three (or more) nuclear reactors are going to be written off and have to be expensively replaced.

There’s been two similar, but nonetheless excellent takedowns of the hysteria that seems to have taken complete control over the media and spell out what, from what we know, has happened at Fukushima and the ramifications therein. I urge any and all of you to take the time to read these posts; they’re a bit lengthy, yes, but are refreshingly-easy to digest if you’re a layman to the way nuclear reactors operate. Here’s one and the other.

I think this whole event should be a shining beacon in favour of nuclear power. In the face of the fifth-worst earthquake ever, one that moved the entire Earth 16cm on its axis with it’s sheer force, a 40-year-old nuclear power plant right on the fault line has stood firm. The reactors shut down immediately,and the problems only arose due to the tsunami taking out backup generators, but even then further contingency plans have averted a nuclear apocalypse. Not that a nuclear reactor can go up a la Tsar Bomba anyway…

Even then, the damage to the reactors is light, given the circumstances. Two ruined outer containment buildings (designed to keep the rain out, but nothing in), a few clouds of steam radioactive for less time than it took you to read this sentence, and a blown-up pump. No explosively-opened reactor core spreading radiation across entire continents, nor milk deemed undrinkable.

I find any attempts at this time to divert attention to why nuclear power is evil and must be banished forever from any shores grossly inappropriate. This is not a nuclear disaster. No-one has died as a result of the problems at Fukushima. In case you’d not noticed, environmentalists and media groups, at least 10,000 people have died as a result of the tsunami. Surely attention is better focused there, where there’s a real humanitarian situation, as opposed to being doomsayers outside what might as well be Hade’s Temple at Fukushima?

Remember, the media portrays nuclear power as a dangerous bit of black magic. Radiation, no matter how miniscule or for however little time it is even about is bad, and nuclear reactors belch it for hundreds of years. Or so you’d think. Our population is deeply uninformed about nuclear power. I happen to believe it’s the only credible choice for a cleaner tomorrow. Wind and solar are nice little distractions, but too expensive for use on any meaningful scale.

I can’t stress how impressed I’ve been with The Register’s coverage of the actual facts of the nuclear crisis, trying to beat off the hysteria that clouds public perception. Lewis Page has done himself proud with the articles he has written; links below.

Use your brains, people. That is, if they’ve not turned to radioactive goo already.

Video:

Reading material:

• The Register (Update one, two and three)
• BraveNewClimate
• Devils Kitchen
• Lords of the Blog
• Jonathan Rawle