Sunday, March 13, 2011

6th Reactor Loses Cooling

Sunday morning, and the news is that yet another Japanese reactor has lost it's cooling system.

It's pretty obvious that there is a pattern here, all the earthquake induced failures are affecting only one sub-system, the cooling systems.

Poor design? Perhaps. If so, lessons will be learned and new designs will prevent this kind of disaster in the future.

Sub-standard workmanship? Probably. Contractors responsible for the cooling systems most likely shorted on the vital construction materials(high quality and very expensive) needed to prevent these failures, and history is full of examples of bought-off inspectors paid to look the other way.

The design of the reactors are such that anyone could reasonably assume that emergency cooling would never be needed. Who would expect a 9.1 quake just off shore?

You take your chances, then you cross your fingers.

My money is on sub-standard construction and materials. Look for a few inspectors to try to leave the planet suddenly.

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