IPFS News Link • Japan - Earthquake Tsunami Radiation
Fukushima – Worse Than Chernobyl
• by Janette Sherman and Joseph J. Mangano There is good news and bad news: The good news is that 11 months after the Fukushima meltdown, thousands of Japanese marched in the streets to protest the continuing operation of nuclear power plants in their country, and urged a shift to renewable energy.
The investigative reporter, Karl Grossman, for his program Envirovideo, interviewed Dr. Sherman on March 5, 2011, and she said that it was just a matter of time before we have another nuclear meltdown. Less than a week later, on March 11, following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Fukushima Daiichi did just that. On March 19, Professor Alexey Yablokov, the senior author of “Chernobyl – Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment,” arrived on a previously planned visit to Washington, D.C. In a series of radio and TV interviews, we opined, even that early, it appeared that Fukushima was worse than Chernobyl – the latter continuing to harm 25 years later.
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1 Comments in Response to Fukushima – Worse Than Chernobyl
Recently there has been information going around about an alternative type of reactor design. It's called a "Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor" or LFTR. It uses molten liquefied Thorium salts as both the reactant and circulating coolant. It runs at low pressures because it doesn't rely on water as the coolant, which needs to be pressurized at high temperatures. If it springs a leak the reactant solidifies as it comes out and self-plugs the breach. If you lose power like they did at Fukushima, the LFTR simply shuts down all by itself. Further, Thorium is more plentiful and cheaper than Uranium. One other advantage...used Thorium salts have no radiation, chemicals or residue that is dangerous or contaminating to the environment. This is a HUGE advantage over conventional nuclear plants. LFTRs have actually been around since the 1950's, but because they don't produce weapons grade material like light water reactors do, they have been pushed aside by the government and nuclear and defense industries. Maybe it's finally time to start building LFTRs.