3/11: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Crisis (2Nd Edition) Note Everything Referred To

Chap 11

3/11: Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Crisis (2nd edition) Note everything referred to below is based on Kingston’s ideas and the evidence that he provides.

Note the level of destruction especially how many people were initially displaced and how much the entire island of Honshu was displaced to the east. How widespread was looting after the disaster? Does this tell us something about the Confucian nature of Japanese society? Be able to explain. Ousting Kan Who or what is the “Nuclear Village”? What did it do to the Prime Minister Kan and why? What was the result? Promoting Nuclear Energy What was the “Genkai” scandal? What exactly was the Nuclear Village doing? In Japan there is a term “castle town” which we translate into “company town”, does it sound like the Nuclear industry has company towns? How does it manage to gain such type of control? Crisis waiting to happen What kind of flaws and problems existed with the Fukushima plant before the accident? Were they recognized? Ignored? What did the third party panel conclude that investigated the plant after the accident? What was SPEEDI? Tsunami risk How aware was TEPCO of the Tsunami risk at Fukushima? What do you think of… “TEPCO’s claim that the scale of the 3/11 tsunami was inconceivable…”

Culture of safety

Before Fukushima, why didn’t the nuclear industry practice evacuation procedures to towns and villages near nuclear power plants?

When they finally did run such a drill at the Genkai plant in Kyushu in December 2011, what problem arose? Aftershocks and fallout

Why did Geiger counter sales skyrocket?

Take a look at safecast.org (not .com as reported in the book) for some of the crowdsourcing results.

An example is given regarding the village of Iitate, which was used as a relocation site. What problem occurred here, even though the village was outside of the 20km evacuation zone?

How did the government respond to food safety issues? How did this effect public attitudes towards the government? Why was the “grace period” so troubling?

How certain would you be that the so-called “cold shutdown” (ie. The reactor would never again start a chain reaction and cause any problem) is really a “cold shutdown”.

Reckoning

Note the levels of cost for decommissioning and compensation. As a comparison the official estimate for the cost of building the Three Gorges Dam in China is only $20billion (although outside estimates put it at $60billion), or the current estimate of the cost of the war in Afghanistan is over $600billion.

Reconstruction

Note the level of cost to rebuild the destroyed towns and villages. Again compare this to US cost for the war in Afghanistan. Does it seem feasible? Why is consolidation of villages being suggested?

Reflections and Prospects

Is Kingston optimistic or pessimistic concerning the ability of Japan to use this disaster as means to create a paradigm shift, which could include a better and stronger re-invented Japan?

How successful was the government’s attempt to slash electricity consumption by 15% immediately after the disaster?

Has the “nuclear village” gone away?

What does Kingston think is the most likely scenario concerning Nuclear Power in Japan?