Monday, April 4, 2011

"A Is For Atom" Redux

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The film shows that from very early on - as early as 1964 - US government officials knew that there were serious potential dangers with the design of the type of reactor that was used to build the Fukushima Daiichi plant. But that their warnings were repeatedly ignored.
The film tells the story of the rise of nuclear power in America, Britain and the Soviet Union. It shows how the way the technologies were developed was shaped by the political and business forces of the time. And how that led directly to inherent dangers in the design of the containment of many of the early plants.
Those early plants in America were the Boiling Water Reactors. And that is the very model that was used to build the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Three of them were supplied directly by General Electric.
Adam Curtis__The Medium and the Message
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5 comments:

  1. "There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist." ~Mark Twain

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  2. Awww... what happened to that optimism? I am not a pessimist - I am a realist. And a happy one, too. :-) Well, except when I am boohooing over some damned lost Space Shuttle.

    The good thing is I have yet another excuse to go visit Florida and check out KSC.

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