--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@...> wrote: > > With regard to the Subject line, and to General > Electric's part in this tragedy, two references: > > 35 years ago, General Electric scientist Dale G. > Bridenbaugh and two of his colleagues resigned > from their jobs in protest over what they considered > the fatally flawed design of the Mark 1 reactors and > their cooling systems. This attempt at whistleblowing > made no impression either on General Electric (manu- > facturer of the highly-profitable plants) or the > Japanese government: > http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fukushima-mark-nuclear-reactor-design-caused-ge-scientist/story?id=13141287
I'm no fan of GE, but you left out an important part of the story: "Bridenbaugh told ABC News that he believes the design flaws that prompted his resignation from GE were eventually addressed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Bridenbaugh said GE agreed to a series of retrofits at Mark 1 reactors around the globe. He compared the retooling to the bolstering of highway bridges in California to better withstand earthquakes. "'Like with seismic refitting, they went back and re-analyzed the loads the structures might receive and beefed up the ability of the containment to handle greater loads,' he said. "When asked if that was sufficient, he paused. 'What I would say is, the Mark 1 is still a little more susceptible to an accident that would result in a loss of containment.'" At this point, we simply don't know whether there has been a loss of containment at the Fukushima Diachi reactors, at least of the crucial primary containment structures, the reactor vessels themselves. Even if there's a full-scale meltdown, the vessels may be able to contain it. But nobody knows. The plant-design failure that led to the current emergency was locating the diesel backup generators where they were vulnerable to the tsunami. They were placed behind a seawall that turned out not to be high enough, resulting in a "station blackout," the lack of a power supply to pump coolant into the reactors. As far as we know, the earthquake itself didn't damage the plant; the inability to keep the reactors (and the spent-fuel pools) cool is what has caused the damage.
