Just a quick one for tonight.
For decades there has been debate over the benefits and drawbacks of nuclear power including aspects such as emissions generated during power generation as well as control and containment when the core needs to be shutdown in an emergency.
Personally, I didn’t know where I stood on the concept of nuclear power particularly in Australia. Some people are understandably opposed to coal power plants given their emissions and then we have advocates of renewable energy sources such as solar solutions and wind farms. Then we have people for and against nuclear power.
I have been watching the television and scouring the web for information on what was going on in Fukushima. Initially, the effect of the quakes had affected the cooling mechanism of the plant which required backup generators to be restarted. However, backup generators were knocked out by the tsunami while the backup batteries were not designed for long term usage but to provide enough power to get generators going.
Unfortunately, an explosion occurred this afternoon which has raised questions over the integrity of the containment structure. It’s not known what was contained in the cloud of smoke which is a concern.
Despite being in Osaka, I have been concerned about what might happen if things took a turn for the worst. The spread of radiation and an increase in the number of compromised plants is definitely not reassuring. That, and being reliant upon the weather and the use of salt water rather than fresh water to cool the reactors down very much paints a bleak picture.
As I write this I am more in favour of less destructive and inefficient sources of power than nuclear energy. I might need to read more on more modern plant designs to better understand the mitigations against such situations and I am not a nuclear engineer or physicist by any stretch of the imagination. At any rate, this will surely reignite the arguments against nuclear power in countries around the world.
Follow Us!