Japan's Engineering
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576198421680697248.html
http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/03/japan-quake.shtml
slysquirrel rightly pointed out that some praise goes to Japan's engineers and, yes, the writers of building regulations, for limiting the damage from the ongoing earthquake/tsunami/volcano/meltdown/Godzilla attack disaster.
Apparently the nuclear reactors aren't undergoing a Chernobyl-like disaster, and actually can't, thanks to safe, well-thought design. (It also helps not to be using Soviet standards of quality and concern for human life.) The first article above has an interesting explanation of why the Japanese reactor designs are better than Russia used, and why there are already better designs out there with (for instance) a better fluid-pump system. (It talks about "third-generation" designs having those improvements, and I think "fourth-generation" ones are well in progress.) The second article adds that even the national Internet connections have come through pretty well, routing around damaged cables.
To put this disaster in perspective, the worst you can say about nuclear power in this context is that an outdated reactor design is so fragile, all it takes to cause a moderate disaster is an earthquake so powerful it noticeably shifts the Earth's axis.
http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/03/japan-quake.shtml
slysquirrel rightly pointed out that some praise goes to Japan's engineers and, yes, the writers of building regulations, for limiting the damage from the ongoing earthquake/tsunami/volcano/meltdown/Godzilla attack disaster.
Apparently the nuclear reactors aren't undergoing a Chernobyl-like disaster, and actually can't, thanks to safe, well-thought design. (It also helps not to be using Soviet standards of quality and concern for human life.) The first article above has an interesting explanation of why the Japanese reactor designs are better than Russia used, and why there are already better designs out there with (for instance) a better fluid-pump system. (It talks about "third-generation" designs having those improvements, and I think "fourth-generation" ones are well in progress.) The second article adds that even the national Internet connections have come through pretty well, routing around damaged cables.
To put this disaster in perspective, the worst you can say about nuclear power in this context is that an outdated reactor design is so fragile, all it takes to cause a moderate disaster is an earthquake so powerful it noticeably shifts the Earth's axis.