Author Topic: Japan Shuts Down the Last of Its 50 Nuclear Reactors (Read 8550 times)

Ben · « **on:** May 05, 2012, 10:55:38 AM »

This should be interesting to watch. The reactors provided a third of the country's power output. Maybe they had already been working on contingency power, but I haven't read anything about it. It seems to me the panic shutdown because of Fukushima is going to lead to economic and other problems for Japan, at least in the short term.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/05/japan-to-be-without-nuclear-power-for-first-time-in-42-years/?test=latestnews

roo_ster · « **Reply #1 on:** May 05, 2012, 11:46:05 AM »

Quote from: Ben on May 05, 2012, 10:55:38 AM

This should be interesting to watch. The reactors provided a third of the country's power output. Maybe they had already been working on contingency power, but I haven't read anything about it. It seems to me the panic shutdown because of Fukushima is going to lead to economic and other problems for Japan, at least in the short term.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/05/japan-to-be-without-nuclear-power-for-first-time-in-42-years/?test=latestnews

Dumbassery, sheer dumbassery. Especially when you look at how Fuk came about.

Monkeyleg · « **Reply #2 on:** May 05, 2012, 12:00:45 PM »

Makes sense to me. Those 9.0 earthquakes and tsunami's happen every few thousand years, you know. You can't be too careful.

seeker_two · « **Reply #3 on:** May 05, 2012, 12:36:10 PM »

The real moral to this story is that it took both an earthquake AND a tsunami to break Fukushimsa's containment.....we should build ALL our nuclear reactors like Fukushima.....

roo_ster · « **Reply #4 on:** May 05, 2012, 01:05:50 PM »

Quote from: seeker_two on May 05, 2012, 12:36:10 PM

The real moral to this story is that it took both an earthquake AND a tsunami AND building the backup generators on the ground floor to be flooded out to break Fukushimsa's containment.....we should build ALL our nuclear reactors like Fukushima.....

Put the generators up the hill a bit, or on the roof of one of the sturdy building and you are good to go.

Northwoods · « **Reply #5 on:** May 05, 2012, 01:28:08 PM »

Fukushima would have even survived the earthquake AND tsunami if the diesel generators hadn't been flooded. Problem was they has assumed some maximum wave height plus safety factor when setting the height of the tsunami walls. And the tsunami was IIRC 2-3 meters higher than the wall. Even then, had they set the generators up higher they might have been just fine.

Rather than shutting them all down, an FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) would have been more appropriate. And then change the way they set up certain safety aspects to improve the performance and safety of the reactors in case of another major earthquake or volcano or other natural disaster.

MillCreek · « **Reply #6 on:** May 05, 2012, 01:39:49 PM »

From the article, I see that oil and gas -fired powerplants are picking up the slack. That has to be expensive.

Jamie B · « **Reply #7 on:** May 05, 2012, 01:51:12 PM »

Quote from: MillCreek on May 05, 2012, 01:39:49 PM

From the article, I see that oil and gas -fired powerplants are picking up the slack. That has to be expensive.

Depending on their consumption, it could also increase the cost of those resources.
Paranoia always has a high cost.....

Ben · « **Reply #8 on:** May 05, 2012, 02:17:13 PM »

Quote from: Jamie B on May 05, 2012, 01:51:12 PM

Depending on their consumption, it could also increase the cost of those resources.
Paranoia always has a high cost.....

For us as well. I imagine they'll need to import a good deal more oil to run those plants.

Waitone · « **Reply #9 on:** May 05, 2012, 02:49:05 PM »

Always, always follow the money.

just Warren · « **Reply #10 on:** May 05, 2012, 03:04:44 PM »

Why not use this opportunity to try out a few thorium reactors?

HankB · « **Reply #11 on:** May 05, 2012, 03:52:37 PM »

Quote from: Monkeyleg on May 05, 2012, 12:00:45 PM

Makes sense to me. Those 9.0 earthquakes and tsunami's happen every few thousand years, you know. You can't be too careful.

The ancestors of current Japanese had placed cairns of rocks, obelisks, and other warnings at the high water marks of PRIOR tsunamis - centuries, not millenia, earlier; historic times - essentially warning future generations that they shouldn't build lower down the slopes. Their far smarter and wiser descendants laughed at the quaint ways of their primitive ancestors and ignored the warnings - with predictable results.

It will be interesting to see how Japan suffers with rolling brownouts and blackouts, industry shut downs, and the cost to their economy of importing even more fuel - this just may be a case of national hara-kiri.

(And BHO is more likely too take it as an example, rather than a warning.

)

birdman · « **Reply #12 on:** May 05, 2012, 04:17:30 PM »

Quote from: seeker_two on May 05, 2012, 12:36:10 PM

The real moral to this story is that it took both an earthquake AND a tsunami to break Fukushimsa's containment.....we should build ALL our nuclear reactors like Fukushima.....

No. We should build all our reactors like ours. The Japanese reactors there are several generations old.

French G. · « **Reply #13 on:** May 05, 2012, 04:44:16 PM »

Well, between them and Germany pulling this asshattery and China buying West Virginia one train car at a time we better get on the nuke bandwagon a lot heavier.

MillCreek · « **Reply #14 on:** May 05, 2012, 07:34:53 PM »

Quote from: HankB on May 05, 2012, 03:52:37 PM

The ancestors of current Japanese had placed cairns of rocks, obelisks, and other warnings at the high water marks of PRIOR tsunamis - centuries, not millenia, earlier; historic times - essentially warning future generations that they shouldn't build lower down the slopes. Their far smarter and wiser descendants laughed at the quaint ways of their primitive ancestors and ignored the warnings - with predictable results.

In all fairness, you can say the exact same thing about here in terms of our continued building on coastlines, earthquake zones, and areas prone to forest fires, tornadoes and hurricanes. Population pressure tends to drive these decisions.

Tallpine · « **Reply #15 on:** May 05, 2012, 07:51:16 PM »

Quote from: MillCreek on May 05, 2012, 07:34:53 PM

In all fairness, you can say the exact same thing about here in terms of our continued building on coastlines, earthquake zones, and areas prone to forest fires, tornadoes and hurricanes. Population pressure tends to drive these decisions.

It will be an interesting day when Mt Ranier erupts

Northwoods · « **Reply #16 on:** May 05, 2012, 08:22:02 PM »

Quote from: Tallpine on May 05, 2012, 07:51:16 PM

It will be an interesting day when Mt Ranier erupts

Hopefully not while I'm elk hunting by there.

Regolith · « **Reply #17 on:** May 05, 2012, 08:30:41 PM »

Quote from: Tallpine on May 05, 2012, 07:51:16 PM

It will be an interesting day when Mt Ranier erupts

I'm just waiting for Mt. Hood to go. Historically, it tends to erupt within a short amount of time of Mount Saint Helens, which means there's a decent chance of exploding in the next 100 or so years.

RaspberrySurprise · « **Reply #18 on:** May 05, 2012, 09:24:34 PM »

Japan has a national phobia of nuclear... issues. Im not surprised by this.

cassandra and sara's daddy · « **Reply #19 on:** May 05, 2012, 09:47:06 PM »

they also have a real air quality issue thats about to get a lot worse

Ben · « **Reply #20 on:** May 06, 2012, 12:23:53 AM »

Quote from: RaspberrySurprise on May 05, 2012, 09:24:34 PM

Japan has a national phobia of nuclear... issues. Im not surprised by this.

I can see where they would have had a historical phobia, but would have thought they'd overcome it considering they had 50 reactors online. I think the entire US only has 100 or so.

erictank · « **Reply #21 on:** May 06, 2012, 01:22:23 AM »

Quote from: Ben on May 06, 2012, 12:23:53 AM

I can see where they would have had a historical phobia, but would have thought they'd overcome it considering they had 50 reactors online. I think the entire US only has 100 or so.

104.

The Japanese have disappointed me. If they use this as an excuse to retool and bring new plants online, that's one thing, but if they've stepped off the nuclear-power train more or less permanently, well, that's just stupid. As mentioned, power replacement from conventional sources is going to drive costs up and air quality down; additionally, they're likely to drive background radiation levels up as well (as natural radionuclides are liberated from conventional fuels by burning).

Tallpine · « **Reply #22 on:** May 06, 2012, 10:45:05 AM »

You would think that they could run the whole country off of geothermal

Boomhauer · « **Reply #23 on:** May 06, 2012, 01:15:22 PM »

Quote

they're likely to drive background radiation levels up as well (as natural radionuclides are liberated from conventional fuels by burning).

Oh hell now you've done it. You'll have the *expletive deleted*ing hippies up in arms about radioactive oil and *expletive deleted*it and then we'll be *expletive deleted*ed when the EPA does their will.

MicroBalrog · « **Reply #24 on:** May 06, 2012, 01:45:00 PM »

Well I know one man who is very happy to hear this.

News:

Author Topic: Japan Shuts Down the Last of Its 50 Nuclear Reactors (Read 8550 times)