Although it is my Spring Break and I am trying to enjoy it, it is hard to enjoy anything when we turn on the television and we see that Japan has been devastated. I'm sure we all, at some point, have seen the television and heard of the dire situation in Japan. And ever since the explosion at Fukushima I have been drowning in comments from friends, fellow students, and even my own family members about the future of nuclear power after this incident (my parents called earlier today and my father told me he doesn't think grad school in nuclear engineering is still a good idea).
The Fukushima nuclear plant situation is a great example for my Communicating in Science class...it shows exactly how science and technology are at the mercy of the media. When people ask me questions about the situation and how "nuclear power isn't looking so safe" they are armed with "facts" that they picked up from CNN or Fox when really they should be reading from science publications that are written by people who are respected in the field.
Therefore, I will provide some links that will allow the public to read up on the real facts concerning the nuclear plant in Japan. One link is to a page generated by Dr. Jeff King (prof. at the Colorado School of Mines) with links to other sites that give information on the topic from nuclear professionals. The second link is a facebook page also created by Jeff King that has updates on the situation.
A powerful paragraph that I found from Dr. King's page:
"6:42 PM MST 3/12, If you stop to think about it, as far as engineering disasters go, this one is so far low on the scale. On 9/11, a fully-fueled passenger jet was piloted into each of the World Trade Center towers. 2606 people died when engineering failures allowed the support beams to buckle in the resulting fires, causing the buildings to collapse. So far, Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 has been hit with the fourth largest earthquake in recorded history, slammed by a massive tsunami, and had the top ripped off of it by a hydrogen explosion. Total death toll at/from the reactors so far? One - a crane operator who was apparently killed in the initial earthquake. (And he was actually at Fukushima Daini - a different facilty.) "
I urge you to arm yourselves with real facts on the situation, there is nothing more dangerous than knowing "a little" on the subject. And "a little" is exactly what you will get from the television. Not to be corny and predictable but an old Japanese proverb says it best, "If you understand everything, you must be misinformed."
***My heart goes out to all of those who have been affected by the earthquake.***
Aaron, my heart goes out to you as well! It must feel frightening or at least intimidating to have your dad question your career path, and to feel like you have to speak for an entire industry.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out Jeff's pages. I think they are helpful, and I agree with his assessments of what is going on. Of course, I think we have to acknowledge that the one crane death will probably not be where these accidents end. The brave workers at the sites are probably receiving very high doses at this point, for periods of time longer than safe. And we don't know whether one of the containment vessels has been breached, nor do we fully understand the state of the cooling pools. It is still possible (though to what probability, I don't know) that there will be significant releases of radiation. We don't know how many will be exposed, or to what extent. It could be serious. I hope this is not the case.
Finally, it must be frustrating to see some of the sensationalistic media coverage of these events. But it really is my sense that the coverage, on the whole (not limited to one outlet) has done a fairly good job of not amping things up beyond what we don't know. But we do have to acknowledge there is a great degree of uncertainty right now, and none of us really knows what is happening.
Sorry, Satira. Mixed yours and Aaron's blogs up for a moment :).
ReplyDeleteSatira, I have working all week to keep my parents informed of what is going on and what it means. A lot of the problem is that people just don't understand terms such as "radiation" and "meltdown." They sound very intimidating in the news, but truth be know the news broadcasters don't know what they mean either! I am sure that your parents will see more of the truth once the hype about the disaster is over. I sure don't see any shortage of job opportunities for nuclear engineers in the near future! Let's just all stick together and try to be honest about what is happening. If we are completely transparent and honest and we don't see a major release of radiation (which I don't think we will), then I have a feeling this will just make the nuclear industry stronger. Don't give up yet!
ReplyDeleteI think nuclear industry required to do the job of training the public and the media. Specifically atleast all engineers and science graduates shall know basics of radiation and nuclear plant. It is big industry, source of clean power. I am sure it kills much less people than thermal plants kills slowly during lifetime.
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