EDF nuclear reactor carries ‘Chernobyl-size’ explosion risk
Posted by Jimalakirti in General
at 3:28 pm on Monday, 8 March 2010
at 3:28 pm on Monday, 8 March 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/07/edf-nuclear-reactor-chernobyl-risk
Protest network Sortir du Nucléaire says leaked EDF documents show reactor’s defects could cause massive nuclear accident.
French anti-nuclear campaigners claim a new power plant being built in Normandy carries an accident risk of “Chernobyl proportions”.
Sortir du Nucléaire, a protest network, says leaked confidential documents show that tests on the third-generation pressurised water reactor present a potentially catastrophic scenario.
(Guardian, March 7. 2010)
Guardian articles are beginning to make me nervous. This article is a good example . A French nuclear protest organization is reported to have got hold of some papers that prove that the pressurized water reactors currently being built have flaws that could lead to a “Chernobyl” style event! It doesn’t come any scarier than that!
Apparently the rods that are supposed to drop and shut down the reactor in the event of a coolant leak are ejected instead (the article isn’t quite this detailed).
We are told a team of experts asked to see the actual papers, but we are not told what the response was. Did the experts get the papers? How did they react to this information? (Some skeptics might ask, “Are there any actual papers”?
The article’s point is mostly not really about nuclear power generation. It is about your being nervous.
At best this is a type two Bertrand Russell moment — the experts disagree. We should await further discussion (and some discussion with actual facts included) before forming any kind of opinion of these reactors. For all we can tell from this article it might b a type three, where there is not sufficient evidence to support either side at this time.
Lets watch for better articles on this important issue.