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A large majority of geeks are enamored with nuclear power -- it's very cool technology after all. The problem of course, is that a nuclear power plant is a complex piece of machinery and successfully building one to operate safely is a delicate task, a lesson Toshiba learned the hard way:
Those troubled projects in the American South are now threatening the Japanese icon's foundations. The value of Toshiba shares has been cut in half over the last six weeks, wiping out more than $7 billion in market value.
It appears a huge part of the problem stems from reliance on a pipe supplier. James Bernhard Jr. bought a pipe fabrication business ("Shaw") for $50k in a bankruptcy deal and then used his awesome dealmaking ability to parlay that into becoming Toshiba's plumber. Of course, in the modern world being a great businessman means sucking money down like a frat boy at a keg, and Bernhard went on to sell Shaw for $3.3 billion even while screwing up all the pipes (from TFA linked above):
After Westinghouse hired Shaw to handle construction in 2008, it wasn't long before the company's work came under scrutiny. By early 2012, NRC inspectors found steel in the foundation of one reactor had been installed improperly. A 300-ton reactor vessel nearly fell off a rail car. The wrong welds were used on nuclear modules and had to be redone. Shaw "clearly lacked experience in the nuclear power industry and was not prepared for the rigor and attention to detail required,'' Bill Jacobs, who had been selected as the state's monitor for the project, told the Georgia Public Service Commission in late 2012.
So there you have it. The reason some geeks (me for example) oppose nuclear power has nothing to do with the technology, and absolutely everything to do with the morons who run it. Businessmen being in charge of this technology means it will never achieve its potential and that it will always be dangerous, because by the time something goes wrong, they'll be spending their billions on hookers and blow in some remote private tropical island paradise, far far away from any consequences of any kind.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by iamjacksusername on Tuesday February 14 2017, @01:46PM
I had the opposite take-away; it sounds to me like the process worked. A dodgy contractor tried to pull a fast one and the regulators caught it. Now, Toshiba is eating the cost to fix the problem. This is a normal part of the business. The reactor will be built, it will comply with NRC standards and it will be safe. However, the process to get there is not a straightline and never will be.
I have worked for engineers and architects for most of my career; there is a give-and-take to getting anything of any size built. There are always impossible deadlines, less-than ideal fixes due to constrained budgets and, of course, shady contractors. This will be true no matter if you are building a house, an office or a nuclear reactor. The idea that we just cannot build something because the contractors will be shady is ridiculous on its face. If that was true, we should all just stop striving and go back to running after gazelles on the African plains. I'm sure people said the same thing when the first skyscraper went up in Lower Manhattan or the first suspension bridge. Humans will find away; western civilization is a living monument to that fact.
(Score: 2) by Murdoc on Wednesday February 15 2017, @12:51AM
The idea that we just cannot build something because the contractors will be shady is ridiculous on its face. If that was true, we should all just stop striving and go back to running after gazelles on the African plains.
I think that is oversimplifying it a bit. It's more like this: As technology and the economy advances (and becomes more deregulated), it becomes more dangerous to leave things in the hands of people who's main priority does not include things like public safety, and thus accidents will increase in both frequency and magnitude. So that is the reason I see for increasing caution regarding things like this. Some think that we can fix it with sufficient regulation, others think that something more needs to be done (like me). But either way we can't just leave things as they are they way they are going.