Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Japan nuclear plant to be shut down a long time

This is going to be a long time for a plant that wasn't really damaged much (har, har!). Most of the work involves inspections, since they still contend they didn't find much. I contribute this to the horrendously complex boiling water reactor, which is nearly impossible to inspect. And what are they looking for?

This is a lesson for our own nuclear operators. In an earthquake, you are going to have the exact same damage as Tepco, and you will have a lot of egg on your collective faces. The earthquake will bring out all the errors of the past. Since the Candu design is a 'plumber's nightmare', you will have trouble inspecting, so that the plants will be closed a long time.

This is not good for a province which depends so much on nuclear power. As in Japan, a lot of carbon will be burnt while the inspectors fiddle.

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