China Syndrome in Japan?

Instant painless suicide, or Chronic Radiation Syndrome.

Hmmmm

 

Sport I personally don't operate my life from fear. It's why certain political parties mean less than nothing to me. It's my belief that nuclear power should never have been approved or built until waste disposal is/was solved, and meltdown radius lessened to involve perhaps an acre, NOT measured by square miles. As far as waste storage, who the hell do we think we are, saddling future generations ad infinitum with 'our' waste? This has never happened before in the history of humanity and is immoral. Furthermore, nuclear power is centralized meaning it's a monopoly of one sort or another, and to add insult to injury, if what happened in Japan happens here the nuclear industry has bought off our politicians and codified into law that in case of serious problems the company is on the hook for pennies (I think it's a million dollars) and the rest of the clean up is designated to be paid for by the US treasury, meaning YOU. Same with decommissioning the aging plants. The corporation sucks the profits and lays the expenses on the general populace. Sound fair? Sound like any sort of capitalism you studied? I think not.

Obama missed a huge opportunity by not converting the bankrupt GM factories to build wind mills etc. A complete overhaul of their facilities to convert from autos to decentralized wind-powered machines would have been better than handing them a non-capitalism gift to keep them afloat. Just like was done during WW2 when they converted from autos to war time machinery, all in no time.

 

Still ongoing:

23 workers exposed to high radiation
NHK WORLD English

 

Yes and no. The profit motive inherent in capitalism is essential, as is the wealth and prosperity it brings. But there's always been a purposeful ignorance of certain costs like pollution and deforestation, euphemistically called 'externalities'. Nuclear waste seems to fall within the definition, so it's not a huge surprise that the average taxpayer is on the hook when things go bad. It's not fair, and it's not right, but that doesn't mean it isn't capitalism. Perhaps I'm more jaded now than I was at business school - though the politics are more extreme, and the corruption more systemic - but it sounds like pretty much the same system I studied.

There's always been a problem with the concept of limited liability. "Socialise losses, privatise profits" is a relatively new mantra, but I'm not sure that the definition of Capitalism has really changed.

 

I'd argue that part of the problem is that most economic models were developed when large businesses were mostly manufacturing-oriented. As such, getting rid of waste is not a particularly large focus and often not properly accounted for operationally. This is especially the case when considering timescales that are beyond the lifespan of an individual (a particular problem with nuclear waste).

 

Evacuation urged for radioactive hot spots

Recommendation to leave limited areas outside 20-km zone
won't be mandatory



Evacuation urged for radioactive hot spots | The Japan Times Online

 

New report shows early chaos at Japan nuke plant - Yahoo! News

 

Death in seconds: High radiation found at Fukushima - World news - Asia-Pacific - msnbc.com

 

CNN describes it differently:

The CNN version more closely aligns to the Wikipedia version: Sievert - Symptom benchmarks.

 

Japan nuke plant radiation leak exceeds Hiroshima - Yahoo! News

And it's still hot...

 

Areas Near Japan Nuke Plant To Remain Off-Limits | FoxNews.com

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Another nuke plant clean-up worker dies...

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Worker Dies | Fox News

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Study: Japan nuke radiation higher than estimated - Yahoo! News

 

Contaminated water found leaking at Japanese nuclear plant - CNN.com

 

World News - Report: Japan kept secret about scary nuclear scenario

Told ya...