13 March 2011

Nuclear disaster exposes journos' lack of knowledge - quelle surprise

Firstly, if anyone in Japan is reading this, you have my greatest sympathies, I hope you're OK and that your loved ones are too. It's a disaster on a massive scale and it looks like tens of thousands are dead. Truly shocking.

The nuclear reactor problems on the north east coast of Japan really have exposed newspaper and news website hacks as woefully ill-informed. Some punters have been out there saying it's meltdown time and the end of civilisation as we know it, while others have said that the "light water" design of the reactors means there's essentially very little to worry about. The next thing you know, the Daily Mail will be enclosing a free DVD of the 1979 US classic "The China Syndrome".

I'm going to make no further comment here as I know pretty much zero about nuclear power plant engineering although I did visit Bradwell nuclear power station (now decommissioned) as a kid. And indeed Dungeness about 20 years ago. The best piece of analysis on the possible risks of nuclear accident arising from the tsunami in Japan (complete with diagram) is here.

But it is amazing the way anything to do with nuclear brings out hyperbole on both sides of the fence.

1 comment:

sewa mobil said...

Nice article, thanks for the information.