The problems with the Japanese reactors are far worse than I expected. However, the warnings were there nearly 40 years ago.
Alvin Weinberg, the reactor designer at ORNL was sacked for making the warnings in 1973 by US congressman Chet Holifield. It was the failings of the cooling system at Three Mile Island that caused the problems there too.
I am astonished that the back-up cooling systems were not more robust. It would not have cost much to have the generators and emergency pumps in a sealable building. The tsunami could have submerged the buildings for an hour or two, with the battery system taking over. When the water receded, the emergency power would then kick in and there would have been no loss of cooling.
The vulnerability of the cooling system must make light water reactors vulnerable to deliberate damage as well as natural disasters.
I wonder if there will be an upgrade of existing cooling systems and backup cooling for all similar reactors around the world. I’m not a reactor expect, but it would seem that not only the cooling systems, .but water storage and supply systems would need to be made less vulnerable. There would also need to be plans to contain cooling water in the event of a major disaster – a large dam to allow storage and later treatment of water rather than allowing run-off into rivers and the sea.
I cannot see any politician trying to push for any design that relies on water cooling for reactor safety. This event will totally reshape the global nuclear industry.
