One year later
Exactly one year ago, my birthday was overshadowed by the events in Japan, a powerful earthquake, followed by a devastating Tsunami, and finished by a nuclear meltdown in three reactors at once. Let's insert a moment of silence here, for the people who have died, lost their homes, family members and their hope to live in health.
Now, one month after the great catastrophe in japan, I wrote a post about the consequences of the meltdown. I predicted that Fukushima wouldn't disappear from the news, and it didn't. I also predicted that it would keep on emitting radioactive substances, wich it did - and wich it still does today. I also predicted that this meltdown would signal the end of the nuclear age, making it impossible for any nation or state to continue to use nuclear power. Well, I didn't hit the nail on the head there exactly. It did work in germany - our dear and beloved *coughcough* chancellor Angela Merkel came to the conclusion that "That's it", and did a political 180° turn, changing her position form pro-nuclear to decreeing 8 power stations being shut down immediately, and the rest to run no longer than 2022. Yay.
Don't get me wrong, this is real progress, and I am extremely happy with it. But does it save germany form the type of devastation and bleakness that is covering the region around Fukushima Daiichi? No, it does not... not untill France decides to shut down their old and rusty boilers like Fessenheim and Cattenom... Wich are built, as it happenes, near the Rhine valley - and thus in an earthquake zone.
It's going to take 30 or 40 more years to finally dismantle the ruins of the Fukushima plant, and remove the melted and slagged nuclear fuel. It's going to take a lot longer to make the lands around the plants livable again, and what I mean with that is not exposing the populace to the same amout of radiation a nuclear worker is allowed in a year, per year. I don't wish such a fate on anyone.
And it is going to happen again. Currently, the tally is, one reactor catastrophe per 7.5 years. Look at TMI, Chernobyl, and now Fukushima... that's 5 reactors in total. All in my lifetime. I do not want to see one more.
Now, one month after the great catastrophe in japan, I wrote a post about the consequences of the meltdown. I predicted that Fukushima wouldn't disappear from the news, and it didn't. I also predicted that it would keep on emitting radioactive substances, wich it did - and wich it still does today. I also predicted that this meltdown would signal the end of the nuclear age, making it impossible for any nation or state to continue to use nuclear power. Well, I didn't hit the nail on the head there exactly. It did work in germany - our dear and beloved *coughcough* chancellor Angela Merkel came to the conclusion that "That's it", and did a political 180° turn, changing her position form pro-nuclear to decreeing 8 power stations being shut down immediately, and the rest to run no longer than 2022. Yay.
Don't get me wrong, this is real progress, and I am extremely happy with it. But does it save germany form the type of devastation and bleakness that is covering the region around Fukushima Daiichi? No, it does not... not untill France decides to shut down their old and rusty boilers like Fessenheim and Cattenom... Wich are built, as it happenes, near the Rhine valley - and thus in an earthquake zone.
It's going to take 30 or 40 more years to finally dismantle the ruins of the Fukushima plant, and remove the melted and slagged nuclear fuel. It's going to take a lot longer to make the lands around the plants livable again, and what I mean with that is not exposing the populace to the same amout of radiation a nuclear worker is allowed in a year, per year. I don't wish such a fate on anyone.
And it is going to happen again. Currently, the tally is, one reactor catastrophe per 7.5 years. Look at TMI, Chernobyl, and now Fukushima... that's 5 reactors in total. All in my lifetime. I do not want to see one more.