PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

17/18 MARCH 2011

PEOPLE FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT NSW NUCLEAR FLASHPOINTS PROJECT

FUKUSHIMA  MELTDOWN AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN SAYS VETERAN ANTINUKE ACTIVIST

According to veteran antinuclear activist John Hallam, the accident at Fukushima nuclear power plant was waiting to happen somewhere in the world for literally decades.


Mr John Hallam studied and analysed nuclear powerplant safety  closely for 23 years, between 1977 and 2000, before 'moving sideways' into nuclear weapons in 2000.

According to Mr Hallam, the issues that now bedevil the four Fukushima boiling water reactors were debated hotly for literally decades.

"The issue of safety of the particular design of BWR that Fukushima comprises was the core issue over which the 'General Electric Three' resigned way way back in 1975, saying that the design of its 'pressure supression containment' was an accident waiting to happen."

'The issue of the possibility of fire in spent fuel pools  is also an issue that's been around for years if not decades - essentially if I can remember it, it must be at least a decade old!"

'The reliability of various backup emergency core cooling systems
has also been around for decades"

"In this respect, the Fukushima disaster is quite UNLIKE Chernobyl, which showed us something completely new in nuclear power plant accidents, something which was never discussed or had been discounted as unlikely - that a nuclear power plant could, literally go 'prompt critical' and explode. Fukushima in contrast, has done things that have been discussed so long that they have been all-but forgotten as possibilities - and now they are upon us.. Ancient nightmares have suddenly become real."