UPDATE 15 March 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident – 15th March summary of situation
If you read virtually all the media reports on this incident, you might be tempted to believe that this is a bigger disaster than the Tsunami that killed what may amount to thousands, and left probably millions homeless and with nothing left, that wall of water sweeping everything they once had away into piles of rubble.
However, some context needs to be placed into what has actually happened.
For three years now I have been contributing Posts at this site on all matters related to the generation of electrical power. I come from a background in that electrical engineering field, and over those three years I have added considerably to my existing knowledge base on the subject.
I have investigated every aspect I can find about the generation of electrical power, and part of that was taking a considered look at how the Nuclear process is used to generate electrical power.
I have contributed numerous Posts here on that subject, and those Posts have had numerous visits, mainly I would suggest from people who would like to know what the process involves.
Because of that, I then contributed a series covering as many aspects about Nuclear Electrical Power Generation. That series is at this following link:
Nuclear Electrical Power Generation – Why The Fuss?
This Post is an Introduction to the series, and at the bottom of the Post are links to the 11 Parts in that Series with a short explanation as to what each of those Parts deals with.
The main thing I have tried to do with that series was to try and explain it in a manner that was not too technical, for readers with no background in electrical power generation, and especially related here to the use of the Nuclear process.
That’s why when I heard of this incident at those Nuclear Power Plants in Japan following the devastation mainly caused by the Tsunami. Having some understanding of the processes involved and the numerous safety measures of these plants, I was not as concerned as most people would be if they were to read what is being put out by virtually every news media outlet around the World.
As much as I can attempt to allay any concerns that people may have, anything I say can be quite easily discounted as just the words of an ‘uninformed’ blogger, who would have no idea what he is talking about.
To that end, I then had to go and seek information that would confirm what I might have to say.
Luckily that information is actually out there, and is at the following link, dated 13th March 2011:
Fukushima Nuclear Accident – a simple and accurate explanation
This is the original information from Professor Barry Brook of the University of Adelaide.
That original Post has been linked to across the whole World now. In the 48 hours since it was originally posted, it has generated more than 600 Comments, most of them thanking him for his explanation of what is obviously a complex situation.
Since that original Post, Barry has added an UPDATE which I have also linked to at the top of this Post.
I have my own Posts, but they pale into insignificance when you read these posts from Barry Brook, and to ally any concerns you may have, I urge readers who want vastly more accurate information than what is being circulated by the mass media to take both links and read what he has to say about a situation that, while still serious, is not as serious as some media outlets would have you believe.
PA Pundits International 
Helen
Wed 07/18/2012
Nuclear power has been a touchy issue meet with a lot of opposition right from its beginning. This could partly be that when it was suggested as a power source, many were in fear of a Nuclear Holocaust, and more recently nuclear weapons. (If a country wants to develop nuclear weapons they don’t need a nuclear plant.)
There have been a couple of large incidents where a nuclear plant has malfunction. Usually the media takes this as an opportunity for a good story on the danger of radiation, and thus nuclear plants are highly unsafe.
Their have been fierce debates on the danger of radiation, of which I will not take part here. However, there is only one person in history that we truly died from radiation, and that is Marie Curie, the scientist who discovered radium, and the concept of radioactivity. She would handle it with bare hands, something that would be inconceivable in today’s society.
So we hear about all the nuclear accidents, of which there is no real evidence that anyone has died from. So what about coal mines? Electricity generated from coal is the largest source of power.
Coal mines are very unsafe. It is mining into a soft rock, or decaying material. Every so often we will hear about a coal mining incident. In New Zealand Pike River Coal Mine, 29 miners were killed in 2010. Even now, it is unsafe to enter the due to toxic gases, more toxic than radiation, including Methane and hydrogen sulphur.
Or here are some other incidents in coal mines, from just a quick Google search:
81 men killed in Bulli Mine, Australia by gas explosion, 1887
96 miners killed Mount Kembla Mine Disaster, Australia by gas explosion, 1902
75 men Mount Mulligan mine, Australia by gas explosion , 1921
210 miners Sunjiawan mine disaster, China by gas explosion, 2005
During 2006, 4,749 coal miners killed in China by gas explosions, blasts, floods…
(China is estimated to have 35% of the deaths in coal mines world wide)
106 miners, Ulyanovskaya Mine, Russia by gas explosion, 2007
… notice any patterns …
Some of these countries may not have very good safety policies, and times have changed, but, the United States had 21,351 injuries per year between 1991 and 1999, and more recently in 2006, 47 miners lost their lives in US coal mines.
The list goes on.
Due to anti-nucleus concern over radiation, the nuclear industry has been forced to make there industry safer than coal mining. It still has its danger, and so will any process used to make energy.
Come on, which of two dangers would you choose? Coal energy or Nuclear energy? I’ll take the less dangerous Nuclear energy.
Here is the link I used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mining_accident
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