'Our Most Dangerous Illusion Is that We Can Control Nuclear Energy'

[marmar]

from Der Spiegel:




In a SPIEGEL interview, peace activist and author Jonathan Schell discusses the lessons of the Fukushima disaster, mankind's false impression that it can somehow safely produce electricity from the atom, and why he thinks the partial meltdown in Japan could mark a turning point for the world.


SPIEGEL: Mr. Schell, what unsettled you the most about the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe?

Schell: Clearly this whole accident just went completely off the charts of what had been prepared for. If you look at the manuals for dealing with nuclear safety accidents, you're not going to find a section that says muster your military helicopters, dip buckets into the sea and then try as best you can to splash water onto the reactor and see if you can hit a spent fuel pool. There's going to be no instruction saying, go and get your riot control trucks to spray the reactor, only to find that you're driven back by radiation. The potential for total disaster was clearly demonstrated.

SPIEGEL: But supporters of nuclear energy are already preparing a different narrative. They say that an old, outdated nuclear power plant was hit by a monster tsunami and an earthquake at the same time -- and, yet, so far only a handful of people have been exposed to radioactive energy. Not a single person has died.

Schell: Clearly it's better than if you had had a massive Chernobyl-type release of energy. But I think that any reasonable analysis will show that this was not a power plant that was under control. The operators were thrown back on wild improvisation. The worst sort of disaster was a desperate mistake or two away. Through a bunch of workarounds and frantic fixes, technicians at Fukushima headed that off, but that was no sure thing. No one will be able honestly to portray this event as a model of nuclear safety. It would be like saying that the Cuban missile crisis showed the safety of nuclear arsenals. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,753777,00.html

[DeSwiss]

1. K&R

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. k&r

[gateley]

3. Why doesn't Obama read this stuff or consult with those outside of his circle?

I don't understand how he can continue to feel that this is a safe option when so many other less dangerous options are available. :(

i really thought we, the world, would be smarter than this by now.

[crickets]

4. K&R

But, unfortunately, we're not as advanced morally, practically and politically as we are scientifically, so we are not prepared to control this force properly.

And then there's the waste.

[Zoeisright]

5. Fuckin' A.

That's it in a nutshell.

[gkhouston]

6. And people have probably been saying it since the 50's.

Unfortunately, they weren't the ones in power. :-(

[AndyTiedye]

7. Kicked and Recommended

Though they talk about the disaster as though it was over, yet the radiation levels are still increasing
and at least one full-blown meltdown is very much in progress.


:nuke: :hide:

[Generic Other]

8. the epitaph of the human race

"...we're not as advanced morally, practically and politically as we are scientifically, so we are not prepared to control this force properly."

[Forkboy]

9. K&R

[Wilms]

10. .

[grahamhgreen]

11. Wind is cheaper, faster, safer, and available NOW