Ever since I learned about the ongoing crisis (and explosion in the wee hours of the morning), I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being sandbagged about the situation with the Japanese nuclear reactors.
The implosion demolition of the Trojan nuclear
facility on the Washington-Oregon border in 2006
My first intuition was on hearing the live broadcast of the Japanese Prime Minister immediately following the 8.9 or (as upgraded today by the Japanese agency responsible for such things) 9.0 earthquake off the eastern shore of Northern Japan. When they rebroadcast it, I was even more perplexed. Why?
Because the first words out the PM’s mouth were assurances that the nuclear reactors were OK.
OK: Japan has a deep fear of matters nuclear, being the only nation in the world ever attacked with nuclear weapons. (Thus far.) But in the larger picture of a devastating earthquake and tsunami, it seemed an odd first priority in the obligatory “Leader reassures the People” statement that everybody makes after any large disaster.
The intervening days have clarified that odd statement: we have EVERYTHING to be worried about. Continue reading
