Erinnerung

[matrixmann]

Originally posted by matrixmann at Erinnerung

1986: Pripyat, Ukraine. During an excercise of a complete blackout in the nuclear power plant "Chernobyl" an explosion in one of the reactors happened. First kept under the rug for days what truly has happened, later the whole town and surrounding area was evacuated.
During the following months, a sarcophagus as a means to stop the worst was built above the reactor to prevent the meltdown to soak into the ground and the radioactive dust to escape into the air.
Still until today it remains not absolutely sure what were the true origins of the fallout, if either purely human error or the addition of an earthquake directly under the reactor which it didn't suit for.

2002: Erfurt, Germany. A former student of an academic high school comes up to his school in the midmorning during the yearly period of the exams and kills 16 people as well as himself in a killing spree.

Comments

[maadmike.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was the first nuclear industry disaster. And it was a good lesson for all wishing to use the nuclear energy but Japanese, it seems, didn't study those lesson...

[matrixmann]

I guess rather everyone jumped upon the Cold War train that Russians just were too stupid to use and maintain a nuclear power plant.
The story that it was an earthquake that happened just on that day where they tried to simulate the case of emergency - it's pretty unknown, sometimes even considered conspiracy theory.
So, there you go...
By the way, wouldn't be the first case of arrogance under the star of belief in "the superiority of the Western capitalist system", if it was so.

[Батька Махно (from livejournal.com)]

Hello, Kamerad!

In my deleted LJ I wrote about Chernobyl. It was clear sign that something goes wrong.

First, catastrophe was, as usual, a coincidence of separate fuckups. Staff risked to conduct an experiment with shutting down reactor's emergency stop system, while didn't know all the processes in reactor.
Here's a good article about catastrophe - http://army.armor.kiev.ua/hist/chernob.shtml

Second, nuclear bosses understood that industrial-class staff turned up too incompetent to operate too scientific machinery.

Third, bosses decide not to raise staff demands, but rebuild machinery for mediocre staff, to make machinery foolproof. Yep, just "like in Western capitalist system", Finnish reactors in that case.

When the level of machinery outgrows the level of education of society it ends badly for everyone.

BTW, in 1986 I got some radiation in grandpa's village, Kursk region. Father, uncle and grandad got more, planting potatoes.

[matrixmann]

Hm (just browsing through it)...
As far as I get it, the worst idiocy to do was doing an experiment with the whole plant while shutting off all of its automatic emergency systems. So, when anything happens that wasn't anticipated and it becomes a serious threat, you don't even take notice of it until the shit very much blows up in your face...
...Actually, why did they want to do that experiment anyway? Committing such idiocy, it strongly raises the question "What were they thinking?".

Well, Japanese enterprise wasn't much better when it comes down to idiocy.
Instead of pumping water up a cliff, they rather reduced the height of the cliff - and were caught red-handed by a tsunami in a tsunami-endangered area. Shit that downright calls for "Seriously?!"...

[Батька Махно (from livejournal.com)]

...Actually, why did they want to do that experiment anyway?
They didn't realize all the threats as they didn't know all internal processes, and that was explainable - staff quality decreased with nuclear stations number increasing.

[matrixmann]

Hm... So to say it was to them just like making a simple scientific experiment where nothing could happen - and they were surprised with the opposite?

[Батька Махно (from livejournal.com)]

Most of the experiment makers were dead, not surprised. AFAIK, the one survived was their chief Dyatlov. He was later arrested.

[matrixmann]

Well, even death can be the "surprise" that one's hit with...

If they didn't really know about the processes inside the reactor while it produces electric energy... why did humans then start with building such things in general?
Or was that already known by then - just only the downgrading of the quality of power plant workers lead to disregard all this?

[Батька Махно (from livejournal.com)]

Or was that already known by then - just only the downgrading of the quality of power plant workers lead to disregard all this?
That's right. Earlier reactors serviced by more scientific and military specialist, and number of reactor was significantly lower. So when appeared urgent need of staff, they had to close eyes on lowered knowledge level of main employees.

[Батька Махно (from livejournal.com)]

Worst but not first. And surely not the last.

[maadmike.livejournal.com]

"Worst but not first."

Worst firdt.

"And surely not the last."

Sure Japan had proved it well!