In Other News
TEPCO is forced to admit what many experts have been saying for weeks – there were meltdowns at all three reactors.
The BBC reports that Tepco confirms extra partial fuel rod meltdown at plant
Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has confirmed the meltdown of extra fuel rods in reactors at its damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The company said that the rods were in its Number 2 and Number 3 reactors.
…Earlier this month, Tepco had revealed that rods at its Number 1 reactor melted down. It was thought that a similar problem had occurred in the other reactors but it was difficult to confirm.
“Based on our analysis, we have reached the conclusion that a certain amount of nuclear fuel has melted down,” Ken Matsuda, a Tepco spokesman told the BBC.
He said the analysis came from a report that Tepco was required to submit to Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa).
The spokesman added that most of the fuel from the Number 2 reactor had melted approximately 100 hours after the earthquake, which measured 9 on the Richter scale, struck Japan.
The meltdown in the Number 3 reactor took place about 60 hours after the quake.
Mr Matsuda said the new discovery would not alter Tepco’s plans.
What is this “partial” crap? All three reactors have been slagged, and it occurred in the first 100 hours. If there hadn’t been a mandatory reporting requirement TEPCO would still be hiding that fact.
The really maddening part is that if they had admitted how bad things were and asked for help, as a matter of self-preservation, there would have been a lot of assistance offered from around the world. With good and factual information people can model the problem and design solutions. The way this has been handled prevented the rest of the world from offering assistance that was available.
2 comments
The way this has been handled prevented the rest of the world from offering assistance that was available.
That was the point. Accepting assistance would have been career seppuku because it would have meant dishonor and forced people to resign. It’s the same syndrome that led to Japan losing WW2 — to admit that they hadn’t the resources to fortify hundreds of tiny islands scattered across the Pacific in the face of a navy able to practice classic concentration techniques to concentrate thousands of aircraft on floating airports against a tiny atoll would have brought shame upon the people who’d planned the strategy back in battleship days, and they would rather see collective disaster than face personal shame and ruin. Shame-based societies lost to ambition-based societies in the clash of civilizations for a reason — placing one’s personal honor ahead of the collective good means crap like this happens.
This is one reason why the “Japan Scare” of the 1980’s didn’t strike me as realistic then, and why China is only slightly worrying to me. Post-Communist China is not Japan, but many of the cultural traits are close enough that I worry more about the rot in America than about what China does.
It’s just scary when these folks have nukes (whether the boom kind or the boil kind)…
– Badtux the Culture Penguin
Of all of the people on the planet, you would think the Japanese would understand the danger of all things nuclear, but I guess every generation has to relearn the same lessons.
My Dad and I were both concerned with the variety that goes boom in the military, and I just can’t understand people who don’t show the proper fear and respect for all things nuclear. It is hard to believe that we actually had nuclear warheads for Bomarc anti-aircraft missiles. The project was cancelled, but someone in power actually thought it was a good idea.
I accept your reasoning on the cultural biases, but it definitely doesn’t make me very happy.