Fukushima Falling Apart, Large Scale Nuclear Disaster :

Fukushima Falling Apart, Large Scale Nuclear Disaster :

lucaswhitefieldhixson.com
April 12th, 2011

Almost thirty years ago, when I worked in an industrial setting, I came across my first pop off valve. We’d had a call that steam was escaping in an area, and were dispatched to go inspect it. My mentor explained that pop off valves were installed in the system for times when the steam pressure had exceeded the setting, and then it released the pressure in order not to cause damage.

It was an interesting concept, one that has carried over into my own life: a visible analogy of the pressure we carry inside us all the time; the good that comes from releasing that pressure; the danger of not releasing pressure when it exceeds our ability to cope.
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It’s been a month since the 9.0 Earthquake, tsunami, and the first of a series of explosions at the Daiichi reactors. Since that time, Japan has received 980 earthquakes and aftershocks: a number so staggering that it is almost incomprehensible. Numerous explosions have occurred as well, and every day it seems the Japanese nuclear and government official reveal a little more about the true nature of the on-going tragedy at Fukushima.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind everyone that the disaster didn’t just happen at Fukushima. Although the brunt of the radiation occurred within the 30 km radius, clearly the entire country of Japan is reeling from the economic, political, social, and public health effects of the upheaval. The earthquake / tsunami destroyed whole villages like Onagawa. Many untold numbers of the dead are from other prefectures along the eastern coast of Japan. It may by three or more months before we have a better idea of the impact and the human cost.

Initially the stoic Japanese were quite reticent to explain their own inner perceptions of the tragedy. “Shigata ga nai.” is an oft-used phrase in Japan. It means, it cannot be helped. Their ethos and manner of dealing with the disaster is quite different from an American one. Due to their high population density and ability to subside on only 25% of the land mass, and given their culture’s 4000 year old history, they’ve adapted to different methods of expression.