A well argued case. I tend to agree but would like to see a somewhat middle ground rebuttal. Not about no limit risk, I think Helen Caldecott et Al drove that one way way too far already, it's patently obvious there is not a simple linear risk model at the lowest end. Nor really about the costs of social dislocation on mortality. That's kind of a given too.
I'm more interested in a critique of post event cleanup and the likely distribution of radionuclide in the local ecology. A very long time ago I worked as a junior lab tech on water quality analysis in the river Forth estuary in Scotland and the persistence of phosphates (fertiliser factory) and surfactants (sewage waste) was amazing. Water flow is nothing like as simple as "in and out" with tide flow. So, dispersal of the water and suspended solids does somewhat concern me as does bioconcentration.
But overall a non argumentative non hyperbolic well written piece. It has a view/bias but it's well reasoned.
Japanese companies in the utility space like tepco are a bit of a cancer on society. They seem to display all the worst attributes of big, but in a public interest role. Hindsight being wonderful, in a country with earthquake and tsunami risk they seem to have gone least cost solution on the one thing (standby power) that mattered this time.
> Unlike with Chernobyl, no one at the power plant died from radiation over-exposure. As of October 2011, a total of 388 people received radiation doses above the 20 millisieverts (mSv) permitted annually for occupationally exposed persons. Fourteen people received more than 100 mSv. To date, there is one case of fatal lung cancer that has been officially recognized as an occupational disease, but it is implausible to have resulted from the accident itself.
I'm more interested in a critique of post event cleanup and the likely distribution of radionuclide in the local ecology. A very long time ago I worked as a junior lab tech on water quality analysis in the river Forth estuary in Scotland and the persistence of phosphates (fertiliser factory) and surfactants (sewage waste) was amazing. Water flow is nothing like as simple as "in and out" with tide flow. So, dispersal of the water and suspended solids does somewhat concern me as does bioconcentration.
But overall a non argumentative non hyperbolic well written piece. It has a view/bias but it's well reasoned.
Japanese companies in the utility space like tepco are a bit of a cancer on society. They seem to display all the worst attributes of big, but in a public interest role. Hindsight being wonderful, in a country with earthquake and tsunami risk they seem to have gone least cost solution on the one thing (standby power) that mattered this time.