Dr. Josef Oehmen explains the nuclear accident in Japan:
I am writing this text (Mar 12) to give you some peace of mind regarding some of the troubles in Japan, that is the safety of Japan’s nuclear reactors. Up front, the situation is serious, but under control. And this text is long! But you will know more about nuclear power plants after reading it than all journalists on this planet put together.
A regular reader forwarded me this link, which explains not only what’s happening at the Fukushima plant in Japan, but also, in concise terms, how the reactor works in the first place.
Once you’ve read that piece, you can totally understand what’s going on with the Unit 3 reactor, which subsequently suffered a cooling failure.
Update: Patrick McKenzie on the incredible success of Japan’s disaster response.
March 15, 2011 at 3:45 am
Since the publication of this personal letter, the post had been moved to an official MIT website and got a professional editing.
http://mitnse.com/
March 16, 2011 at 12:03 pm
and also been discredited on a few counts: http://tinyurl.com/4lnvnzk