Monday 21 March 2011

Heroes - they pay for us


When the Tchernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in 1986, the Soviet government sent thousands of army draftees and miners to dig tunnels or clean away debris before erecting the steel coffin to contain the radiation.

These people did not realize fully what they were asked to do: to face certain death within weeks or months or long, painfull illnesses. They suffered for the common good and I can only hope they are honoured by their people for this.

But what unfolds right now in Fukoshima is of an entirely different kind. The Japanese people know what radiation means and most certainly those who fight the monster right on spot. These days I frequently have a look at NHK World, the Japanese news channel in English and saw there those Tokyo Firefighters shaking hands before trying to spray water on those melting nuke rods. Normally, the Japanese are a kind of poker face nation but here I saw they were fighting back tears.



To do this you have to be nearby and nearby means death, a very unpleasant slow death. They were volonteers I have been told and if the word Hero has any meaning they are.
They face death out of their own choice so that others may go on living! Heroes.

As to nuclear power plants, they should have been scrapped since long. This technology is just too dangerous for dumb human species. I have been working in industry all my life and we had the saying "something that can go wrong, will go wrong, one day".

This "Sword of Damocles" hangs above our heads and this for thousands of years because nobody knows for certain what to do with the nuclear waste. Even without Tsunami, earth quakes or terrorist attacks we are all facing this threat due to our collective stupidity. And this technology is not even cheap, one of these lies we are being told from time to time. There was a Tchernobyl type power plant in Eastern Germany, shut down about a months after reunification. Now, more than 20 years later, the plant is still not totally dismantled at a cost of about 1500 Million Euro or nearly 2 Billion US Dollar! Just dismantling.

As to the waste, nobody know what to do with it. There is not a single place on Mother Earth where the geologists can say "this hole deep down is safe for the next five thousand/ten thousand years". But the search for a waste dumb goes on, worldwide, to the tune of Billions of Euros or Dollars, Billions, really, no exageration. So, for the time being, the stuff remains somewhere behind each power plant, safely stored away in big costly steel drums. But in forty, fifty years, those containers have to be replaced. Everywhere, all over the world! And so on, and so on and so on. No need for a Tsunami or a king size quake to shiver a bit. No need to panic either, those are old facts, nothing new, no surprise here.

Last not least: don't swallow anti-radiation iode pills. They are useless unless your home adress is Fukoshima or Tchernobyl. Better sit under a table with a pillow over the head.

15 comments:

  1. The nuclear issue isn't one of radiation or safety, but of greed and capitalism. At university in Business school, the first thing they taught us about capitalism, is that you 'create a need....and then fill that need'. Big business created need to 'energy'...cheap energy and we all became addicted to it, be it gasoline, or desiel or electricity. We were never taught to be thrifty with it, or the consequences of using too much of it.

    Well, now we know, but it is a bit too late, with all the nuclear power plants around the globe and the billions of cars we don't need.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hello Georg!
    Je repasserai te visiter avec un traducteur. mais j'ai cru voir que le débat tourne autour du capitalisme.
    même sur mon blog, certaines..... mais tu as vu.
    je ne vois pas le rapport. qu'est ce que ça a à voir? peut on croire sérieusement que le marché de l'éolienne ou des panneaux solaires soit dirigé par des mécènes? Même les ordures ménagères font l'objet de marchés juteux.

    que veux tu? sans le pognon on ne fait rien.

    A plus

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  3. To LotusBrouce,

    Needs and filling those needs. Yes, I remember that. And also that needs are unlimited, there are no limits to our needs.

    But my point is, we don't need those radiating power plants. There are other feasible solutions, the nuke technology is a dead end road, yesterday's technology.

    Pour Vincent
    Non, mon ami, ceci concerne le nucléaire et la connerie d'installer des centrales qui sont un véritable danger public. Dis bonjour à Google.

    Georg

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  4. Un petit coucou pour te souhaiter une bonne nuit (vu l'heure!)
    C'était une catastrophe sans doute prévisible, ces centrales étaient déjà signalées vétustes il y a des années... l'argent-roi est un mauvais conseiller!
    Bise
    Viviane

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  5. An absolute terrible tragedy. One hopes something like this never happens again.

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  6. Tu raisonne comme ma soeur.
    Franchement !!!!! je ne vois pas le rapport direct avec l'agent.
    Dans ce cas on peut incriminer les producteurs de tabacs, les fabricants de voitures, d'avions........ La liste peut être longue.

    Cite moi une société qui n'est pas menée par l'agent.
    bises

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  7. oups!!! c'est vincent qui vient de poster.
    j'avais pas vu que j'étais en anonyme.

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  8. Colossal human mistakes such as nuclear disasters are often labeled as 'learning experiences' to appease the grieving world conscience especially after and during the first few weeks/months of a tragedy. Unfortunately, over the years the tragedy is simply stored as an 'experience' in the annuls of history, but the promised 'learning' never happens; therein lies the human tragedy. A very meaningful and evocative post Georg, and I hope the Fukushima tragedy will awaken the human conscience to an extent where we make some significant changes in the way we handle our capitalistic agendas and our insatiable need for physical comfort; both of which may cost us our home, our species, and our planet!

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  9. Pour VIVIANE
    Merci pour ta visite. En effet, en technique on dit ce qui peut arriver, arrivera un jour. Laperfection n'existe pas en technique.

    For Princess
    If this happens not before 25 years we can consider ourselves happy. What can happen, will happen. Absolutely nothing man made is perfect. We all know this in our hearts.

    Anonymous
    Dis bonjour à ta soeur de ma part.

    For IdItIs
    Just one point regarding your remark (as always well said and to the point): we don't hurt this planet in its basics. What we hurt is human species. Mother Earth will continue to turn around, even if we transform her to a Mars-like surface.

    Cheers to all of you
    Georg

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  10. Please for Jesus sake do it once
    I have made a blog at blogger.com Since i have added a google adsense in the blog but haven't made a penny with this. I need your help and support to help me make some money to PAY MY Tuition Fees.

    What you have to do is
    1.go to my blog Positive Thoughts

    2.Remain on the page i.e Positive Thoughts for one minute and do some random surfing
    3.then click ONE of ad only you like from Ads by Google boxes and visit there.
    4.remain on that page for one minute or so and do some random surfing.
    and that's it.

    Note: Only one click is needed per IP address.
    I will be grateful to you.
    I really need the money.
    I really need your help

    You can also follow my blog if you want

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sword of Damocles indeed.

    I am humbled by the heroism of these people and hope to never be tested or called upon as they are...

    Pearl

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  12. To Majid Ali
    Thanks for commenting. I thoroughly appreciate the Indian way of transforming positive thinking into money. Good luck to you. I am into positive thinking, too, but without making any dough.

    To Pearl
    Thanks for passing by. I hope that too. Let it happen to others. I liked your post about garage sales. They have it here as well.

    Georg

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  13. Georg,
    Majid Ali's 'Indian way of transforming positive thinking into money' appears to be emanating out of Pakistan :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hello id,

    Great. I think we understand each other. I dimly remember having read somewhere that the gift of being able to make money out of nearly everything should be held under close scrutiny.

    Georg

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  15. salut GEORGE§§ j'ai une bonne nouvelle!! Ben Laden a été lessivé ce matin
    embrases Elisabeth
    bonne journée

    ReplyDelete