Sources I Just Might Not Trust on Fukushima
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
Apr 6, 2011 at 8:46am
For all I know he could be right, but it's really hard to sell your credibility on these credentials:
"In my opinion, the operator company's confusion and lack of action caused a nuclear accident of medium severity to deteriorate into a real catastrophe," said Kovalenko, who was in charge of the information and international relations department of the government commission for dealing with the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
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Jan '11
Re: Sources I Just Might Not Trust on Fukushima
Well, he does have some relevant experience . . .
Jul '10
Re: Sources I Just Might Not Trust on Fukushima
I don't know...is that opinion backed up by an EPA flak associated with 3-Mile Island?
Nov '10
Re: Sources I Just Might Not Trust on Fukushima
I keep thinking this: if I had a 30 year old car that leaked oil on my dad's driveway, and he started in on me about it, and I started whining that it wasn't my fault, my car leaks oil, wouldn't my dad tell me "The car is 30 years old! Get a new one!".
Jul '10
Re: Sources I Just Might Not Trust on Fukushima
Ken: Before or after the 9.0 earthquake?
Jul '10
Re: Sources I Just Might Not Trust on Fukushima
Read the article. Sounds a bit suspicious. No doubt the Russians compiled a ‘lessons learned’ report for their own use, but given the plant designs and operator procedures are completely different, it seems there’s some rehabilitation PR afoot here. The perfect storm for their purposes, that is.
It would have been difficult for the Japanese to use the Russian data; the better resource was the Three Mile Island data because of design similarities (altho, TMI was a Pressurized Water Reactor while the Japanese plants were Boiling Water Reactors.) And because of licensing agreements for both PWRs and BWRs, the Japanese had the TMI data.
The US and Japan value safety over economics; the Russians value economics over safety and on their fateful day, some of their inventory went thru the roof. They had neither containment structures nor redundant safety systems. Moreover, Chernobyl used graphite as a moderator/coolant which caught fire. Had there been containment structures for both the reactor and building, the fire could have been extinguished and overall damage mitigated. The release of highly radioactive materials was due to the more highly enriched fuel in the rods, which they used to more easily convert to weapons-grade.